Northerly he's got all the hallmarks of a champion." Sunline, a champion New Zealand mare, had won the Cox Plate for two years running, and the spring clash with Northerly was now widely anticipated. Northerly was spelled for the winter, and started his campaign in Perth, where he won first-up and was defeated second-up with 62 kilograms. He then travelled to Melbourne, where he met Sunline for the first time in the John F Feehan Stakes in mid-September. This time, Damien Oliver took the ride, as Greg Childs was committed to Sunline. The great mare raced clear approaching the home turn,
Northerly a big motor." Trainer Fred Kersley ruled out running Northerly in the 2002 Melbourne Cup and reasoned that because he would have to carry 60 kilograms over 3,200 metres, and the fact that he possibly might not have stayed the trip, it may have taken too great a toll. In the week leading up to the Cox Plate, the eventual Melbourne Cup winner, Media Puzzle, had burst into calculations by winning the Geelong Cup by more than three lengths, and Northerly would have been conceding 7.5 kilograms to the imported galloper. After a brilliant spring, Northerly's campaign autumn in 2003