MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australian-trained gelding Knight’s Choice won the 164th running of Australia’s premier horse race, the Melbourne Cup, at odds of 80-1.
The underrated five-year-old was back home in the two-mile handicap at Flemington Racecourse. But Irish-born jockey Robbie Dolan fought his way through the 23-horse field to win in a photo finish from Japanese-trained rider Warp Speed.
The race has a prize pool of US$5.6 million and has attracted horses from Ireland, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
Dolan, 28, lived in County Kildare in Ireland before moving with his family to Queensland, Australia, eight years ago.
He rose to prominence early with two Group 1 wins. But until Tuesday, he might have been better known as a singer after appearing on the Australian version of TV show The Voice in 2022.
His first appearance in the Cup was made even more special when he was surprised on Tuesday morning by his father Bobby who had secretly traveled from Ireland to Flemington.
“I can’t believe it,” he said. “I watched all the Melbourne Cups in the last 40 years last night and thought my best chance was to be able to convince him to stay on the trip and hopefully get home. He’s just proven that everyone was wrong.
“It’s the biggest race in the world and to win it is incredible. I didn’t know what to expect but I feel like I’ve ridden it 10 times because I’ve ridden it 100 times in my head.
“To win it with (my father Bobby) here and my little daughter Maisy and my partner Christine… I’m going to cry again. »
Knight’s Choice is formed by Australian John Symonds and New Zealander Sheila Laxon. It was the first spring classic victory for Symonds and the second for Laxon who trained Ethereal to win in 2001.
“We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t think we could win,” Symonds said. “What a great ride from Robbie.
“He took risks, he crossed the peloton. I was worried it would be further than we talked about, but it was a great race and what a thrill.
Four-year-old Australian mare Zardozi and six-year-old stallion Okita Soushi vied for the lead as the field approached the winning post.
But Knight’s Choice and Warp Speed battled between the leaders and Knight’s Choice held on to win by a nose over Warp Speed.
Okita Soushi, who retained third place, was ridden by Jamie Kah, one of four riders taking part in the race. This was the largest contingent of female jockeys in the history of the race.
The field was reduced to 23 runners on Monday when Australian-trained runner Athabascan was scratched after a veterinary check showed the six-year-old trained by John O’Shea and Tom Carlton was suffering from a cardiac arrhythmia.
The Melbourne Cup is known locally as The Race That Stops A Nation, as Australians traditionally stop work to watch the race which takes place each year at 3pm on the first Tuesday in November.
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