Via Sistina will be chasing a little slice of history at Moonee Valley this weekend.

Mares are responsible for many of the Cox Plate's most memorable moments of the 21st century.

Sunline set the tone in her seven-length demolition job in the first edition of the 2000s, which was her second-straight success.

Makybe Diva scaling 'the wall', Pinker Pinker plotting a path under a Craig Williams gem, Winx's unprecedented quaddie, Lys Gracieux's maiden win for Japan and Via Sistina's track-record smashing eight-length romp are all part of Cox Plate folklore.

Fans introduced to racing during this period would find it hard to comprehend that generations before them were raised on the belief that mares rarely won the Cox Plate.

In the first 75 years of Moonee Valley's signature event, Tranquil Star and Flight were the only ones to upstage the boys.

Those Hall of Famers did win two each, Tranquil Star in 1942 and 1944 and Flight the following two years, and have played their part in a statistic Via Sistina fans hope rings true this weekend.

Every Cox Plate-winning mare who has run in more than one edition has ended their career a multiple winner.

Tranquil Star, Flight, Sunline and Winx are the only multiple winners, while the others on the honour roll – Dane Ripper, Makybe Diva, Pinker Pinker and Lys Gracieux – won the only one they contested.

Given her age, Via Sistina's attempted title defence this weekend is likely to be her only shot at upholding that trend.

Considered an eight-year-old in Australia due to being born in the Northern Hemisphere – on March 27, 2018 – Via Sistina is naturally only seven years of age.

However old you consider the daughter of Fastnet Rock, victory this weekend would make her not only the oldest female winner of the Cox Plate, but the oldest mare to win a race at the highest level in Australia since the introduction of the Group 1 classification system in 1979.

She won the Winx Stakes on August 23, when listed in the racebook as an eight-year-old, but at 2707 days of age.

Winx holds the distinction of being Australia's Group 1-winning mare, at 2769 days of age when she claimed the last of her 25th Group 1 wins in the 2019 Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

Via Sistina will eclipse that by one day if she wins on Saturday, with the 2040-metre Cox Plate to be run 2770 days after she was foaled in Ireland.