Hong Kong-owned racehorse Natural Blitz is one of only seven rivals for Australian star Lonhro and rated a 20-1 chance in Saturday's A$3 million Cox Plate at Moonee Valley, but trainer Doug Harrison insists the four-year-old has a very real shot against the local heavyweight.
Lonhro is dominating this year's Cox Plate in a way no horse has in the 36 years since Tobin Bronze won in 1967. But there is more than this race at stake for Natural Blitz - the other goal is securing an invitation to Hong Kong for the international meeting in December.
'Natural Blitz is owned in Hong Kong [by Danny Lam Yin-kee] and he has said he would love the horse to be there for the Hong Kong Cup,' Harrison said yesterday. 'But first, we have to get through Saturday. Natural Blitz is my first runner in a Cox Plate and I've been thinking about this race for him ever since the autumn, when he ran second to Northerly [the 2002 Cox Plate winner] in the Australian Cup.
'He gave Northerly a big start from the home turn and ran tremendous sectionals. I figured if he could make a level of improvement from a three-year-old to a four-year-old, then the Cox Plate might be a race he could measure up to.'
Lam and Harrison had their Cox Plate belief fuelled when Natural Blitz won the Feehan Stakes (Group Two, 1,600m) at Moonee Valley in September. The Feehan is a traditional Cox Plate stepping stone, with horses like Sunline, Rubiton and Our Poetic Prince completing the double in the same year. 'It was a fantastic win and it showed he has what is required to be very competitive in a Cox Plate,' Harrison said. 'He made a couple of runs in the race and covered a lot of ground but he went to the line strongly.'
At Natural Blitz's only start since the Feehan, he finished 12th out of 17 runners behind outsider Roman Arch and another Cox Plate rival, Fields of Omagh, in the Group One Toorak Handicap (1,600m) at Caulfield on October 11.