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Tongues wagging over how Cox Plate favourite Whobegotyou was named

22nd Oct 2009

Courier Mail - Bart Sinclair - Thursday, 22 October 2009

TONGUES have been wagging for more than a year now about how tomorrow's $3.5 million Cox Plate favourite Whobegotyou got his name.

But owner, Queensland construction industry powerhouse Laurence Eales isn't telling.

Well not yet anyway.

On the eve of last year's Victoria Derby, Eales, who originally hails from Cairns, said he might reveal it if he won. But Whobegotyou went under as a short-priced favourite and the story remains untold.

"It's still not time to tell ... maybe one day. You'll have to bring along a lot of rum," Eales said last night. Eales will be at Moonee Valley tomorrow cheering on his star galloper, but tunnel work on the Brisbane Airport Link might slow at the weekend if Whobegotyou wins.

Eales is the principal of Shantfell Underground, the company which won the contract to build the Airport Link, the second Gateway Bridge and the Boonah by-pass road.

"A lot of my workers are punters and they know I am involved with Whobegotyou and back the horse," Eales said.

It was fate Eales was able to buy Whobegotyou as a yearling in Sydney.

He was held up with business commitments and was late to the Inglis saleyards and the Street Cry colt he liked had already been through the ring but fortunately had been passed in.

Eales picked him up for $19,500 and sent him to the stable of Mark Kavanagh, an emerging force who has just opened a Melbourne stable to complement his Adelaide base.

Eales is trying to play down his Cox Plate expectations. He was crushed last spring when Whobegotyou was beaten in the Derby at Flemington.

Eales and his wife Prue have lived in Melbourne in recent years but are currently living in Brisbane to keep tabs on the major projects.

Asked about plans for Whobegotyou Eales was coy.

"Let's get over the Cox Plate first," he said.

But he later conceded the Dubai international meeting early next year was a dream.

His father Mick made the trip from far north Queensland to Melbourne last year for the Derby but this year will watch the race on television in Cairns.

But Eales' two Brisbane-based sisters Diane Nibbs, of Wishart, and Alison Mortimer, of Ipswich, will be at Moonee Valley along with plenty of friends from many Queensland towns.

Kavanagh is satisfied that Whobegotyou has come through a faultless Cox Plate preparation after winning the Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes at Moonee Valley, finishing a close second in the Underwood Stakes and then taking out the Yalumba Stakes at Caulfield a fortnight ago.