Cross Counter grabs Melbourne Cup

MELBOURNE: Cross Counter led a British one-two-three to win the coveted Aus$7.3 million (US$5.2 million) Melbourne Cup at Flemington on Tuesday and give the renowned Godolphin stable their maiden victory after two decades of frustration.

The four-year-old gelding handed jockey Kerrin McEvoy his third victory in the famous 3,200-metre (two mile) handicap, the ‘race that stops a nation’, with Charlie Appleby the first English trainer to claim the trophy. Racing out of barrier 19 on a rain-affected track, Cross Counter put on a withering burst of speed down the finishing straight to edge fellow British horses Marmelo and Prince of Arran and win Aus$4 million. Pre-race favourite Yucatan came 11th.

But there was sadness among the 100,000-strong crowd with Irish five-year-old The CliffsofMoher, ridden by champion jockey Ryan Moore, euthanised after suffering a fractured right shoulder early in the race.

“I’m just lucky I can ride light on these lovely stayers prepared unbelievably well by Godolphin and Charlie Appleby. And a third Melbourne Cup, woo!” said an ecstatic McEvoy, who also won in 2000 and 2016. “I’m over the moon.”

McEvoy’s wife will also be happy with her husband — who steered Redzel to victory at the world’s richest turf race, The Everest, in Sydney last month — after he promised that if he won, he’d buy her a new house. “I did promise (the kids) a swimming pool. And (wife) Cathy and myself have been looking around for a bigger house... and I said to one of the reporters yesterday that if I won I would buy Cathy a new house, so look out,” said McEvoy.

It was the first win for Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s Godolphin, who have been trying to crack the Melbourne Cup since first trying with Faithful Son in 1998.“This is everybody’s dream. It’s sinking in now. This is all down to Sheikh Mohammed,” said Appleby. “He’s the one that’s given us the encouragement to take the chances in what we do. “Coming in to today, this horse ticked a lot of boxes. I’m just delighted. What a ride.” Fortunately for punters, flamboyant British billionaire Marwan Koukash’s seven-year-old gelding Magic Circle didn’t win despite being one of the favourites.

If it had, the former owner of the Salford Red Devils rugby league team had vowed to strip down to his lucky tie and skimpy underwear in celebration.First staged in 1861, the Melbourne Cup has been run on the first Tuesday of November since 1876, and winning it instantly makes the horse a household name in Australia.

So important is the race that it is a public holiday in the state where it is held — Victoria — although it has not enjoyed its usual central focus during the annual spring carnival this year.That’s because of increasing attention being given to The Everest in mid-October. Now in its second year, the world’s richest turf race was won for a second straight time by Redzel.

And there have also been the exploits of the world’s top-rated horse, Winx, who smashed legendary sprinter Black Caviar’s Australian win record in August and then late last month clinched a record fourth Cox Plate and 29th victory in a row.