Pierro drifts in open Cox Plate

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Saturday's Cox Plate is set to be the most open in 37 years with three-year-old Pierro drifting out to $4.60 with bookmakers, the longest price for a favourite in the race since 1975.

Punters, who have witnessed Gai Waterhouse horses beaten as favourite in the feature race in each of the past two Saturdays, seem to have lost faith in the first lady of racing and her star colt, with close to each way odds available now on Pierro, who was as short as $3.70 earlier in the week.

Pierro is even longer odds with betting exchange Betfair at $5.1, with Green Moon a chance to replace him as favourite having been backed into $5 with bookmakers and supported into $5.50 on Betfair.

The Cox Plate is usually marked by having a clear favourite, with the last horse to start as a $4.50 favourite in the race was Samantha Miss back in 2008.

Looking back across the history of the race, not since Wave King in 1975 has a horse started favourite at longer odds than $4.50 in Australasia's weight for age championship.

Perhaps the coldness on Waterhouse's three-year-old stems from the fact just two favourites have won the past nine editions of the Cox Plate, Makybe Diva in 2005 and So You Think in 2010.

There has been a more positive move for Waterhouse's champion mare More Joyous, who is now into $7 having been $10 earlier in the week. Waterhouse's other runner Proisir is out the gate, drifting to $11 with even better odds available on the TAB and on Betfair.

New Zealander Ocean Park has been supported into $6.50 as it bids to become the first Kiwi prepared winner since Sunline won her second Cox Plate in 2000.

All Too Hard is the other horse in single figures at $9, with punters increasingly confident the little brother of Black Caviar can become the first horse to win the Caulfield Guineas and Cox Plate in the same year since Red Anchor in 1984.

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