Then Via Sistina’s winning time of 2m 01.07s was 11 LENGTHS FASTER than the old 2040m Moonee Valley record that Winx set in the 2017 Cox Plate (2.02.94s).

Yes, you read that correctly, Via Sistina, despite James McDonald sitting up in the irons in a victory salute for 75 metres, was 11 lengths faster than the most successful horse in the history of the Cox Plate, and the history of Australian racing.

And Winx had the 2 fastest recorded 2040m times at Moonee Valley.

The official margin was also 8 lengths, matching the record margin that Winx set in 2016.

Of all the great Cox Plate winners to grace The Valley, Via Sistina has every single claim to have the single most dominant win in the history of the race.

This was Racing.com’s guide for how fast that race was, comparing it to other Cox Plates run on Good 3 tracks and the winning times:

1995 – Octagonal (2.06.4s) – 32 lengths

1996 – Saintly (2.05.7s) – 28 lengths

1998 – Might And Power (2.03.5s) – 15 lengths

2009 – So You Think (2.03.9s) – 17 lengths

2015 – Winx (2.02.98s) – 11 lengths

Absolutely insane how good Via Sistina was… In fact, with Pride of Jenni haring along as the pacemaker and Via Sistina running the last 1000 metres like it was a 5-furlong Group 1, the first 5 horses home in the race yesterday all would’ve bettered Winx’s 2017 course record!