By Ian Ransom
MELBOURNE (Reuters) -Knight’s Choice won the 164th running of the Melbourne Cup in a bruising result for punters on Tuesday, the rank outsider storming down the final straight to edge Japanese stayer Warp Speed in a photo finish.
Rated an 80/1 chance by bookmakers, Knight’s Choice’s triumph gave co-trainer Sheila Laxon her second Melbourne Cup win, 23 years on from preparing Ethereal for the 2001 trophy.
The home-bred, five-year-old gelding’s Irish jockey Robbie Dolan, a former contestant on TV singing show “The Voice”, celebrated the biggest win of his career, hauling 51.5kg in the taxing two-mile handicap.
“Tell you what I’ll be singing tonight after a few beers,” Dolan quipped at the trophy presentation.
“I thought my best chance was to get him to stay the trip and, hopefully, he can run home and do the quick sectionals he can on a good track and he proved everybody wrong.”
It was the Queensland-based jockey’s first ride in the Cup.
Okita Soushi, trained by Ciaron Maher, came third in the A$8 million ($5.27 million) event known locally as the “race that stops the nation,” which was watched by more than 90,000 spectators at Flemington Racecourse.
Okita Soushi’s jockey Jamie Kah narrowly missed out on becoming the second female rider to win the Cup after Michelle Payne’s stunning 2015 triumph on Prince of Penzance.
Kah was among a record four women jockeys entered in the race along with Briton Hollie Doyle, who was 14th on the Harry Eustace-trained Sea King.
Irish trainer Willie Mullins’ hopes of a maiden Cup win were crushed again as Vauban finished 11th, flopping for a second year in a row on a glorious afternoon at Flemington.
Vauban finished 14th last year after starting as favourite.
Mullins’ other entrant, Absurde, finished a credible fifth, two places better than the 2023 race.
Pre-race favourite Buckaroo, prepared by Chris Waller, also disappointed, finishing ninth. Buckaroo was the second best of Waller’s five entrants, with French import Land Legend crossing eighth.
The field was reduced to 23 horses after the John O’Shea and Tom Charlton-trained Athabascan was scratched by stewards on Monday due to a heart problem.
($1 = 1.5170 Australian dollars)
(Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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