Irish raider Twilight Payment yesterday won the coveted A$8 million (US$5.68 million) Melbourne Cup in a race run without spectators and marred by the death of last year’s Epsom Derby winner Anthony Van Dyck.
With Jye McNeil in the saddle, the eight-year-old gelding held off a charging Tiger Moth and Prince of Arran in a thrilling finish to the grueling 3,200m handicap, considered the ultimate test of stamina and staying power.
However, Anthony Van Dyck, one of the pre-race favourites at Flemington Racecourse, broke down with a leg injury and was later put down — the seventh Melbourne Cup horse to perish on race day since 2013.
Photo: EPA-EFE
McNeil, one of the rising stars of the sport, triumphed in his maiden Melbourne Cup, which was held behind closed doors for the first time because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There’s so many emotions, it’s such a big moment, it’s a miracle,” McNeil said. “It’s very overwhelming. There was a lot of hard work getting to this stage and I couldn’t be more impressed with how everything played out today.”
“I’ve been dreaming about this since before I could ride,” he added. “It was a very surreal feeling crossing that line.”
Veteran owner Lloyd Williams’ seventh Melbourne Cup win came against a top-quality field heavy with overseas runners, mostly Irish and British, despite the pandemic.
Racing out of barrier 12, the Joseph O’Brien-trained Twilight Payment led for much of the race with Ireland’s Tiger Moth charging late alongside Britain’s Prince of Arran, last year’s runner-up ridden by Jamie Kah, the only female jockey in the race.
First staged in 1861, the Melbourne Cup has been run on the first Tuesday of November since 1876, and the winning horse instantly becomes a household name in Australia. It is the highlight of the country’s racing calendar and ordinarily up to 90,000 colorfully dressed and boozy punters would be trackside.
Yet despite Melbourne emerging from months of COVID-19 lockdown last week, organizers decided it was too soon to allow fans, so only jockeys, trainers, security and operations staff were on site.
It meant that instead of Flemington erupting in cheers to the sound of popping champagne corks on a glorious, sunny day, the only sound was the thundering of hooves across the turf.
There was drama before the race as the Williams-owned French gelding King of Leogrance, winner of this year’s Adelaide Cup, was scratched after showing signs of lameness, reducing the field to 23.
The death of Ireland’s Anthony Van Dyck, from the stable of trainer Aidan O’Brien, then cast a shadow over the event.
“The horse received immediate veterinary care, however he was unable to be saved due to the nature of the injury sustained,” said Jamie Stier, Racing Victoria’s executive general manager of integrity services.
He added that research was under way aimed at the early detection and prevention of bone injuries in thoroughbred racehorses.
Social media reacted in horror to the death, and animal rights activists, demonstrating outside Flemington, were outraged.
“He was pushed well beyond his limits and that’s why he is dead,” the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses said of Anthony Van Dyck. “This isn’t a surprise, horse racing kills horses.”
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