Here’s one way of telling the story of Knight’s Choice and his win in the 2024 Melbourne Cup: a meticulously planned event, starting with the selection of a promising yearling prospect, a co-training effort that prepared the horse to precision, and culminating in the execution of a daring winning ride.
It was all of that, of course. From co-trainer John Symons’ eye for a bargain yearling, to fellow trainer Sheila Laxon’s patience and race-planning, and then to an all-time great Melbourne Cup ride from Robbie Dolan. But if it was told that way it would be robbing the story of what makes the Melbourne Cup great: its glorious uncertainty.
You need a good horse to win the Cup, but the best horse doesn’t always win.
During the post-race press conference, Symons – midway through recounting all of that meticulous planning – put his hand up, halted proceedings and reminded all that this story wouldn’t have happened at all if owner Cameron Bain had accepted a A$2.3m (US$1.5m) offer from Hong Kong after the horse had won the G3 Winx Guineas (1600m) on the Sunshine Coast in the winter of 2023.
“What about his decision now? He has turned what could have been A$2.3m into whatever the first prize money is today,” Symons said as Bain entered the room and took his place at the table.
First prize in the Melbourne Cup was A$4.4m (US2.9m), putting Knight’s Choice, who cost just A$85,000 (US$56,300) as a yearling, comfortably ‘in the black’ and confirming the decision not to sell as a good one.
Bain knows from experience that it doesn’t usually work out like that and he told Idol Horse that making a profit wasn’t the point of his massive investment in horses anyway.
“We had three previous horses with John that we have knocked back offers for – one of them for A$1m (US$600k), and another two for A$800,000 (US$530,000),” he said. “I would have made good money had I just sold them … but where’s the fun in that?”
“It’s not about the money, it’s about the experience. It was so special to have my dad here today and other family, it’s an experience that is worth more than money can buy.
“It’s an expensive business, racing, so there is always that tension of how much you should keep spending, but eventually you just have to believe in the system, and John and Sheila have a good system.”
It had been 23 years since Laxon had officially become the first female trainer to win the Cup when Ethereal completed the Caulfield-Melbourne Cup double. The Melbourne Cup and Australian racing more broadly has changed dramatically since.
Nine of the 23 runners in the 2024 Cup were prepared by either Chris Waller or Ciaron Maher, the two biggest of a core group of training corporations that have taken on a size and scope that threatens to swallow up smaller operations.
This was a win for small scale, hands-on training. Laxon and Symons intended to retire when they moved to the Sunshine Coast seven years ago, only hanging onto a handful of horses. They still only have 26 horses in work. Symons and Laxon prepared Knight’s Choice through the last few months of his preparation for the Cup at the famed Macedon Lodge, a first-rate training complex 64km north-west of Melbourne.
Symons was instrumental in the planning and development of the training facilities there in the 1990s and was the first person to train there, preparing another bargain Group 1 winner Bel Esprit to the 2002 G1 Blue Diamond Stakes and 2003 G1 Doomben 10,000.
Laxon had also prepared Ethereal at Macedon Lodge before her Cups double – one of four Melbourne Cup winners trained on the property.
Many were hailing the training performance of an Australian-bred horse through four lead-up runs, progressing in distance over six weeks as a return to the Cups prep of old. On paper, form of ninth, 16th, 14th and fifth, beaten a combined 42 lengths, wasn’t giving punters confidence but Symons never lost faith in his own.
“We knew he was a duffer on wet tracks and we just needed to get a hot day and firm ground, which we got today,” he said.
“Go the Aussie battlers,” Laxon said at the press conference. “There are horses that perform really well overseas over ground but I think in Australia because the racing is pretty tenacious … it was quicker than it would be, and that probably doesn’t suit the Europeans so much.”
After a week when Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien and some media pundits from his country threw an almighty tantrum when Jan Brueghel was withdrawn on veterinary advice following a CT scan, the Melbourne Cup needed a feel-good result and got one.
The Irish were denied a major drawcard when Jan Brueghel was withdrawn, the Willie Mullins-trained favourite Vauban flopped again and his stablemate Absurde was unlucky – but the joy in Irish jockey Robbie Dolan’s post-race reaction ensured everybody was smiling.
Dolan’s ride from near the rear of the field, mirrored by Akira Sugawara on his outside aboard runner-up Warp Speed, was the stuff of legend.
Warp Speed went desperately close and marked another tremendous training international effort for his handler Noburu Takagi, another trainer taking on the big guns given that he goes without the all-important support of Northern Farm. Takagi also finished second in the Saudi Cup and Dubai World Cup earlier this year with Ushba Tesoro.
Before Tuesday, Dolan had never ridden in a Melbourne Cup, and only once at Flemington. He was almost better known for his singing exploits: he was a popular contestant on the television show The Voice in 2022. He might not even be a successful jockey if not for the eagle eye of trainer Mark Newnham, who spotted the Irish lad riding trackwork at Warwick Farm and recruited the lightweight.
“Mark Newnham taught me that if you work hard you will be rewarded,” Dolan told Idol Horse between posing for photos with fans. The jockey also revealed that he had met Laxon on a Melbourne Cup cruise in 2022, where racing fans take a cruise liner from Brisbane or Sydney to attend the Cup. Dolan was singing and Laxon was a guest speaker.
“And here we are, lifting the Melbourne Cup, it’s crazy.” ∎
