AUSTRALIA’S CUP
AUSTRALIAN-BRED and trained Vow And Declare has held off the international challenge to win the Melbourne Cup, giving jockey Craig Williams his first success in Australia’s greatest race.
The win was also a first for trainer Danny O’Brien with Vow And Declare crossing the line ahead of Master Of Reality, Prince of Arran and Il Paradiso.
Williams (pictured) famously missed the winning ride on the French-trained Dunaden in the 2011 Melbourne Cup because of suspension.
Eight years later, he joins Neville Sellwood, Roy Higgins, Pat Hyland, Mick Dittman, Jim Cassidy, Damien Oliver and Chris Munce as the only jockeys to win the “grand slam” of Australian racing — the Golden Slipper, Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup.
In a desperate finish involving four horses, Vow And Declare took an inside run and put his head down when it counted to win in a photo finish.
For O’Brien the win was one that meant everything.
The trainer was involved in a protracted battle with officials over a cobalt case which he eventually won, but the process took its toll on his business.
“It doesn’t get much better than this,” he said of the triumph.
IT was the Antipodean fightback many doubted was possible in the global age of the Melbourne Cup.
But winning trainer Danny O’Brien hopes the victory of his gallant Flemington-based stayer Vow And Declare yesterday will become a source of national pride.
But O’Brien — who yesterday completed his own career trilogy of Melbourne’s biggest spring races — is not sure whether the emotionally charged win was a welcome anomaly or evidence of an ever-so-slight power shift back to the “home team”.
Vow And Declare’s success was the first time an Australian-bred horse — complete with a local trainer, jockey and owners — had won the Melbourne Cup since Shocking saluted in the race 10 years ago.
It came off the back of some good old-fashioned “Aussie grit” from the four-year-old gelding — who kicked back despite being headed — and an inspired ride from Craig Williams who was rewarded with his first Melbourne Cup.
In a race dominated across the past 10 years by some of the world’s most powerful stables and international horses, this was a welcome “back-to-thefuture” moment that even had rival trainers David Hayes and Chris Waller feeling patriotic.
“An Australian-owned, trained and bred [horse] … it’s great for racing. It has been a hard year,” Hayes said.
Waller added: “As a trainer in Australia, you get questioned whether we’ve still got what it takes to win it. And we bloody have.
“It does [give you confidence for next year]. I’d rather be buying them here. It’s a big win for Australia.”
Vow And Declare provided a rearguard action against the raiders who had already plundered the Caulfield Cup, the Cox Plate, the Geelong Cup, among other leading races this spring. Twenty-one of the 24 horses who took part yesterday were either overseas visitors, or horses sourced internationally for the race.
Only two horses were Australian-bred — Vow And Declare and Youngstar, who finished 20th, while the Kiwibred, but Horsham-trained and Aussie-owned Surprise Baby finished powerfully for fifth, delighting trainer Paul Preusker.
As O'Brien celebrated with his wife, Nina, his kids, Thomas and Grace, his parents, and his group of owners, he said it gave him so much satisfaction to win the race he has adored since watching the 1979 Cup as a nine-year-old.
“It has certainly become a more elusive race for a trainer and to do it with a locally bred horse is not something that is going to happen very often,” O'Brien said.
“It is getting further and further out of reach, but today shows it can still be done.”
Incredibly, Vow And Declare was passed in for $45,000 with a $60,000 reserve at the 2017 Inglis Classic Sales — and has now won more than $5.7 million. And Surprise Baby was twice passed in as a yearling in New Zealand before being sold as part of an online auction for $5500.