Luck of the Irish as Lloyd claims sixth Cup
IN the heady afterglow of yet another historic Melbourne Cup triumph, Lloyd Williams deferred to Joseph O’Brien’s precocity, predicting the shy Irishman would change the face of racing.
At 24, O’Brien turned Cup convention on its head as Rekindling, ridden by Corey Brown, triggered a spree of records in an unprecedented father-son quinella.
O’Brien’s father and mentor, Aidan, was a long neck away from landing his 309th Group 1 and his first Cup with Johannes Vermeer.
In a coup for Irish trainers, Willie Mullins’s Max Dynamite was third with eight internationals in the top 10.
And, for the first time in 23 years, a raider won the Cup without a lead-up run in Australia.
The last horse to manage that accomplishment was also from Ireland — Vintage Crop.
Brushing aside disappointment, Aidan rang to congratulate Joseph on achieving a feat Williams deemed preternatural.
“It is extraordinary, close to being able to walk on water,” Williams said. “It’s an amazing achievement.
“You’re going to see a career kicked off here that’s going to include Breeders’ Cup and all sorts of things.
“He will be one of the leading trainers in the world — and I have thought that for 18 month or so. He has a pedigree better than Galileo. He is the next Aidan O’Brien.
“I’m very egotistical and I have been saying for sometime he would be the leading trainer in the world.
“We are going to see this young man doing all sorts of things, he will emulate his father, maybe more. His father has won 308 Group 1s, something pretty minor.”
A former top-line jockey, O’Brien has been training for only two years. This season, he has trained five Group 1s.
Speaking in a whisper, he struggled to comprehend the magnitude of his achievement.
“To be honest it hasn’t sunk in yet,” he said. “Dad was over the moon.
“He was delighted and I would have been if his horse had won.
“I can’t quite believe it yet. I just so thankful to Lloyd and Nick (Williams), they suggested bringing him down and that he’d have a good chance in the race.
“Corey gave him an unbelievable ride and I’m just so delighted for all the team and the lads at home. The lads who have been with him out here have done a tremendous job.
“This is unbelievable, it hasn’t sunk in to be honest.
“So much more goes into triaining than riding a winner. The kick you get as a trainer is so much bigger.”
Regarded as a four-year-old here, Rekindling is still only three by European time.
No horse so young has won the Cup since Skipton in 1941.
For Williams, a record sixth Cup as owner was validation on multiple fronts. And it was shared joy. Williams and son Nick orig- inally owned Rekindling between them.
Recently, the family sold off about 30 per cent in the High Chaparral colt with some of the new shareholders including Gerry Ryan, who raced of 2010 Cup winner American.
Businessman Phil Mehrten had an interest in seven horses in yesterday’s Cup and, like Ryan, savoured the quinella.
Brown registered his second Cup win and first since Shocking in 2009 with a reminder of timeless skills with an expertly executed ground-saving ride.
“My manager and I started to scout the lightweight rides and this was the horse we targeted first,” he said.
“This seems so much more surreal second time around About five or six weeks ago we had done the form and Rekindling’s credentials stood out.
“Limited senior riders can ride that weight so I put my resume forward.
“I felt the winner a long way out. I dragged him out three or four wide on the home turn and I wasn’t worried as I had only 51.5kg on my back.
“I was confident, not that you can be too confident in a Melbourne Cup, that I was travelling so well that he was going to be very hard to beat.”
Joint $7 favourites Marmelo and Almandin finished ninth and 12th.