What the jockeys said:

Craig Williams (Vow And Declare)

1st: “It was a privilege to ride him today. Look at him, he knows he’s won. I’m so grateful to be given the opportunity. He just gave me a beautiful ride. (Trainer) Danny O’Brien and the owners gave me no instructions. He just said ‘trust the horse’.”

Michael Walker (Prince Of

Arran) 2nd: “Charlie and the team have done a great job. I love the horse and I just wanted to win it, you know. I feel like I’ve let him down.”

Wayne Lordan (Il Paradiso) 3rd:

“He could’ve done with the tempo a bit quicker. We didn’t get an ideal position but he ran well.”

Frankie Dettori (Master Of Reality) 4th: “I want to cry.”

Jordan Childs (Surprise Baby) 5th: “He ran super. I just had nothing to take me into the race from the 800 (metres) but he’ll be back bigger and better next year.”

Damian Lane (Mer De Glace)

6th: “He was massive. He wasn’t entitled to finish off like he did after the slow tempo. Finished well late.”

Kerrin McEvoy (Finche) 7th: “He ran great. The pace wasn’t that strong. Would’ve liked them to go a bit quicker. But we presented at the top of the lane and I thought he was a real chance there at the 300 (metres). He then just levelled out the last little bit. A brave run.”

William Buick (Cross Counter)

8th: “He ran a huge race . . . just slowly away.”

Brett Prebble (Steel Prince)

9th: “He ran super but they didn’t go a gallop. He was in a nice position but he wouldn’t switch the chewy off and it just took its toll late.”

Ryan Moore (Magic Wand)

10th: “She had no luck. Got an early bump so we were back further than we wanted and they went too slow up front.”

Hugh Bowman (Twilight

Payment) 11th: “He had a really smooth run in transit. He just didn’t have the sprint required to win a Melbourne Cup.”

James Winks (Sound) 12th:

“Tempo was ridiculous so he’s run really well.”

Joao Moreira (Constantinople)

13th: “Disappointing, yes. He was going to have a super run.”

Ben Melham (Mirage Dancer)

14th: “He ran well. Probably didn’t quite see out the last part of the race.”

Seamie Heffernan (Hunting

Horn) 15th: “I needed to get cover and I couldn’t. The pace was too slow.”

Jamie Spencer (Raymond

Tusk) 16th: “Beautiful position but the race was too slow.”

Tim Clark (The Chosen One)

17th:: “He went alright. From that draw I had to get a long way back and the pace was no good for him. But he stayed on well.”

James McDonald (Latrobe)

18th: “Just got back in a slowly run race. Hard to get into it.”

Mark Zahra (Southern France)

19th:: “Had a tough run . . . probably didn’t stay.”

Tommy Berry (Youngstar)

20th: “Speed of the race didn’t help her.”

Luke Nolen (Neufbosc) 21st:

“They went too steady for me.”

John Allen (Downdraft) 22nd:

“Slowly run race mightn’t have suited him. Only I didn’t think that he ran out the trip.”

Damien Oliver (Mustajeer)

23rd: “They just went ridiculously slow and it didn’t suit my horse. Probably didn’t get a chance to run to his best.”

Dwayne Dunn (Rostropovich)

24th: “He hasn’t pulled up too well, he’s obviously sustained an injury somewhere in the run.”