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A look at how this year’s Cox Plate international stacks up against others we’ve seen.

El Bodegon is rated similarly to the Northern Hemisphere three-year-olds who have won the Cox Plate, the question is whether he has the same level of improvement.

That's what form students need to try and work out ahead of this Saturday's $5 million feature at The Valley.

El Bodegon owns a Racing And Sports peak rating of 118, which was the same pre-Cox Plate peak rating as State Of Rest and one pound lower than Adelaide.

They both improved to run 125 in the Cox Plate in 2021 and 2014 respectively.

El Bodegon ran his peak when second to Vadeni in the Group 1 French Derby (2100m) three starts ago, having also been a quality two-year-old, emphasised by returning a 115 rating in the Group 1 Criterium De Saint-Cloud (2000m) at his final start as a juvenile.

State Of Rest leapt from 109 to 118 after his win in the Saratoga Derby the start before coming to Australia and then rose a further seven pounds in the Cox Plate, which was his ninth start in a race.

El Bodegon, a son of Kodiac, will be having his 10th start in the 2040m Cox Plate.

"El Bodegon and State Of Rest go into the Cox Plate with the same Racing And Sports rating, 118, but with slightly different profiles," Racing And Sports senior handicapper Adam Blencowe said.

"State Of Rest produced his 118 seemingly out of nowhere when winning at Saratoga whereas El Bodegon was a Group 1-winning two-year-old who has been rock-solid around that number, despite not winning, in 2022.

"The other northern hemisphere-trained three-year-old to win the Cox Plate was Adelaide, who came down rated 119, though he did so having been obviously unlucky not to better that rating at his most recent run and had looked better than it on more than one occasion.

"That might not be so obviously the case with El Bodegon but his form in the French Derby has a deep and rounded look about it; best of the rest behind the best three-year-old in Europe and with a string of top horses in behind."

Anamoe went 124 when a narrow runner-up to State Of Rest in last year's Cox Plate and has since improved his peak rating to 125 via 2000m wins in the Rosehill Guineas and The Might And Power.

Zaaki owns a peak Racing And Sports rating of 126, I'm Thunderstruck 124, Alligator Blood 123, while Gold Trip is coming off a 123 run when second in last week's Caulfield Cup.