Australia: Ocean Park extends streak in Cox Plate

Ocean Park won his fourth consecutive Group 1 race, all in a span of less than two months, in Saturday’s $3 million Cox Plate at Moonee Valley Racecourse in Australia.

Ridden by Glen Boss, Ocean Park rallied four wide on the turn and was fully extended to catch the 3-year-old All Too Hard in the final sixteenth, winning by a neck in the race over 1 1/4 miles. Pierro, another 3-year-old, finished third, 3 3/4 lengths behind All Too Hard.

Ocean Park was a 5-1 shot in an open race recognized as Australia’s weight-for-age championship. Green Moon was the 4-1 favorite in the field of 14, which included 10 Group 1 stakes winners.

Ocean Park, trained by Gary Hennessy, is a 4-year-old New Zealand-bred colt by Thorn Park. His current streak of Group 1 stakes wins began in the Makfi Challenge Stakes in New Zealand on Sept. 1 and continued with two Group 1 wins at Caulfield, Australia – the Underwood Stakes on Sept. 22 and the Caulfield Stakes on Oct. 13.

The $6 million Melbourne Cup over two miles on Nov. 6 is not a goal for Ocean Park. Instead, he is likely to run in a key prep to that race, the $1 million W.L. MacKinnon Stakes next Saturday. The Group 1 MacKinnon Stakes is run over 1 1/4 miles.