Rekindling blazes to Cup victory
Lloyd Williams quinellas the famous race
The pupil has beaten the master with Irish trainer Joseph O’Brien getting oneup on his famous father Aidan after Rekindling won the Melbourne Cup.
The youngest horse in the race as a three-year-old to northern hemisphere time, Rekindling was sent out by the youngest trainer for the most prolific owner in the race’s history, Lloyd Williams.
Yesterday’s win was Williams’ sixth and jockey Corey Brown’s second but a whole new experience for 24-year-old O’Brien who began training last year after a successful career as a jockey until weight got the better of him.
Williams, who had six horses in the Cup ( 3200m) including runner-up Johannes Vermeer who is trained by Aidan O’Brien, identified Joseph O’Brien as the trainer he wanted when he bought Rekindling to run in the race he is making his own.
Rekindling ($15) managed to avoid an early scrimmage and travelled well for Brown who said he was confident he would pick up Johannes Vermeer ($13) in the final 200 metres which he did to win by a long neck.
Max Dynamite ($20), runner-up in the 2015 Cup for another Irishman Willie Mullins, was another 21⁄ lengths third.
“He is not a big horse, 420 kilos, but he is an easy horse to train,” O’Brien said.
“I’m almost speechless. He was brilliant and an unbelievable ride by Corey.”
Brown, who won his first Cup on Shocking in 2009, said the race had not begun as he envisioned but panned out how he hoped.
“I was concerned in the first furlong because there was more early speed than I thought there would be,” he said. “There was a bit of confusion in front of me so I just let the horse relax and get into his rhythm.
“He was always travelling and I felt he was the winner a furlong out.
“I’ve won this race before but this time it feels a bit surreal.”
Williams, who has won three of the past six Melbourne Cups with European imports Green Moon (2012), Almandin (2016) and Rekindling, said his latest winner would return to Europe for the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot which he won in 2016 with Order Of St George.
There was plenty of drama just hours out from the race, as Ben Allen replaced Joao Moreira aboard Thomas Hobson for Willie Mullins — after Moreira suffered a nasty fall in race four on the card.