‘I love the horse and I just wanted to win it’

MICHAEL Walker was dis- ttraught. Charlie Fellowes was bbeaming with pride.

A second Melbourne Cup placing in as many years for Prince of Arran drew the contradictory emotions in equal parts from the jockey and trainer of the gallant stayer.

Walker threw his gear on the ground in the jockeys’ room after the race, having guided the Geelong Cup winner to within a nose of collecting the biggest prize in Australian racing.

Third in last year’s Cup, Walker drove Prince of Arran up the middle of the Flemington straight, avoiding the rough and tumble on his inside, which eventually elevated him to second after a protest lifted him from finishing third again. But for Walker, close wasn’t good enough.

“Charlie and the team have done a great job. I love the horse and I just wanted to win it, you know,” Walker said. “It’s my daughter’s birthday today. I feel like I’ve let her down.”

Walker was so desperate to get the seven-year-old over the line, he lost $10,000 of his $55,000 prizemoney, fined by stewards for overusing his whip in the closing stages. He copped a seven-meeting suspension too.

“It’s the Melbourne Cup. I was just throwing everything to see if I could win the race,” he told stewards after apologising for breaking the rules. “It’s not like it was a maiden at Echuca. It’s the Melbourne Cup.”

English trainer Fellowes, certain Prince of Arran will be back again next year, said the connection Walker has with the seven-year-old was one of the key reasons behind a performance he couldn’t have been more proud of.

“He’s such an intelligent horse, he’s very perceptive and he gets Michael’s confidence,” a fully chuffed Fellowes said.

“Michael is a very confident jockey and when he sits on this horse he believes he is going to run well and I’m convinced that has a difference. He’s never given him a bad ride, and he did a peach today.”