October 22, 2005 ALREADY a champion, Makybe Diva became a legend when she added the Cox Plate to her incredible record at Moonee Valley today.
With rain falling most of the afternoon, the sun came out just in time for the great mare to shine.
After settling her down in her customary position near the tail of the field, Glen Boss skirted wide coming to the turn and let the mare stride down the straight to the cheers of the crowd.
She had hold of the race a long way out and went to the line 1-1/4 lengths ahead of Lotteria with grand campaigner Fields Of Omagh a half-head away third in his fourth Cox Plate.
Makybe Diva's owner Tony Santic bought Phar Lap's 1931 Cox Plate and was overcome to get one of his own.
"It's unbelievable, she's the best ever, she's the people's horse," Santic said.
"It's hard to describe."
Boss said he had never ridden a better horse and Lee Freedman said he had never trained a better one as the superlatives ran out to describe what was history in the making.
"You can walk away today and say you witnessed something unbelievable," Boss said.
"People will talk about this for years and look back and say they were here.
"She is something else."
But although it looked easy both trainer and jockey were well aware of the effort she had put in.
"She gave it everything she had," Boss said.
Freedman said no decision on a tilt at a third Melbourne Cup would be made in haste.
"You'll never see another performance like that," he said.
"But it wasn't easy. I've got to get her home now and see how she pulls up and whether I've got a horse for next week.
"She's had a hard run.
"She is definitely the best horse I have ever trained and she's given us an unbelievable ride over the past twelve months."
Makybe Diva's two Melbourne Cups are testament to her superior staying ability but this year she has added another dimension with her wins in the Australian Cup, BMW and today's acknowledged weight-for-age championship of Australia over 2040 metres.
She also went past Sunline as Australasia's greatest stakeswinner with earnings in excess of $11.4 million.
David Hayes trains Fields of Omagh who won the Cox Plate in 2003 and has run third twice and he is now converted.
"I'm on the bandwagon," he said.
"She's a superstar. The scary thing is she had them covered so far out.
"She quickened past horses who are among the best and she's just too good.
"But one of these days she'll walk onto a racetrack and it won't rain!"
The rain caused the track to be slow and once again New Zealand's champion Xcellent floundered as he did in the AJC Australian Derby earlier this year.
The four-year-old finished ninth with his two wet track runs the only defeats in his short career of eight starts which have yielded six wins, four at Group One level.
South African Greys Inn was another who didn't fire, finishing a tiring 10th while three-year-old Hotel Grand was a spent force after leading to the turn and compounded to finish last.
Fellow youngster God's Own made up a little ground from last but was also disappointing as were Japanese entrant Tosen Dandy (11th) and Hong Kong's Super Kid (7th).
But in the end it didn't matter, they were only running for second.
