Godolphin’s cup, at last
Godolphin has finally broken its Melbourne Cup drought with the victory of lightly weighted threeyear-old Cross Counter, trained at Newmarket in England by Charlie Appleby.
The win brings to an end a wait of more than 20 years for cup success for Godolphin.
Second home was another English-trained galloper in Marmelo, ridden by Winx’s regular rider Hugh Bowman, for trainer Hugh Morrison.
Third place went to yet another English-trained horse in A Prince of Arran, from the Newmarket yard of young handler Charlie Fellowes. He was partnered by expatriate New Zealander Michael Walker, who has called Melbourne home for most of the past decade.
The first Australian-trained runner to finish was fourthplaced Finche, prepared by Chris Waller, although that must be marked with an asterisk. Finche was formerly trained in France and only went to Australia a few weeks before the cup to be prepared by the man who has guided superstar Winx’s career.
The winner was carrying only the feather weight of 51kg (the same as fifth-placed Rostropovich) and was partnered by the rider many regard as the best jockey in Australia when it comes to staying races, Mcevoy.
This was his third cup win, having first succeeded as a youngster aboard Brew in 2000, landing the great prize again for Lloyd Williams on Almandin two years ago.
Williams owned Thecliffsofmoher and the favourite Yucatan, but the latter never looked like featuring in the finish. The Cliffsofmoher broke its right shoulder passing the finishing the post on the first lap and was euthanised.
Another disappointment was the heavily-backed Magic Circle, whose owner, Dr Marwan Koukash, had threatened to pick up the prize in a thong if he had won. Sadly for those who lumped on, he never figured in the finish.
Cross Counter continued the trend for lightly weighted northern hemisphere three-year-olds to do well in the cup.
Last year victory went to a similar aged horse, Rekindling, while the only other northern hemisphere three-year-old in this year’s race, Rostropovich, did well to finish fifth. Mcevoy had ridden for Godolphin with distinction in Europe for some 10 years, so it was appropriate he was on board their first cup winner.
Saeed Bin Suroor first, and latterly Appleby, had been trying to give Sheikh Mohammed a winner in the one big race that had escaped him for more than 20 years. Appleby will always hold a special place in the Godolphin record books now.