Accompanying Silvano on his trip to the Southern Hemisphere was groom and exercise rider Bianca Seiling, who also journeyed to Arlington with the horse last summer. Trainer Andreas Wohler will arrive in the days closer to the Cox Plate.Also making the journey to Australia from Europe was Gary A. Tanaka's Caitano, the British-bred 7-year-old who finished fourth to Silvano in the Arlington Million. Caitano, who was beaten 13 lengths by Silvano in the showcase event of the Arlington season, will face him again in the Cox Plate.In the Cox Plate, worth approximately $1,166,000, Silvano will have to face Sunline, winner of the Four 'n' Twenty Stakes (Aust-II) at Flemington Oct. 6. The 6-year-old mare will be trying for her third straight Cox Plate tally. She has two wins in four starts this year, but both defeats came at Moonee Valley.
Silvano, the impressive winner of this summer's Arlington Million (gr. IT), arrived in Australia on Oct. 9 for the eighth leg of the World Series Racing Championship -- -the Carlton Draught Cox Plate (Aust-I).The German-bred Silvano won the Million, third leg of World Series, by 3 lengths and will be asked to negotiate that same 1 1/4 miles over grass at Melbourne's Moonee Valley on Oct. 27.The 5-year-old son of Lomitas took the 28-hour flight from Europe in stride, as he did his trip to Chicago from Germany last August. Independent veterinarian Dr. Barry Smith, who tended to Silvano on his arrival at the Sandown quarantine station, commented on Silvano's low heartbeat as a sign of how relaxed he was.
