Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Race-day recap
The stars aligned, the gaps came, and 10 years after Michelle Payne became the first female jockey to win the G1 Melbourne Cup, Jamie Melham added the race that stops the nation to her resume with a terrific ride on Tony and Calvin McEvoy's Half Yours (St Jean {Ire}).
Dance To The Boom (Exceedance) danced her way back into stakes company to make it six wins from nine starts in the G3 Hong Kong Jockey Club Stakes.
A grey duo of Roaring Lion (USA) sons fought it out for the Listed Kirin Ichiban Plate at Flemington, with Kingswood (GB) coming away the winner for Gavin Bedggood.
Gringotts (NZ) (Per Incanto {USA}) led home an impressive trifecta for Ciaron Maher when defending his $3 million Big Dance title at Randwick.
'This is what we do it for': Half Yours brings home Melbourne Cup for Melham and McEvoys
Sometimes, the stars truly align - and perhaps Jamie Melham felt the hand of the late Colin McKenna on her shoulder as she manoeuvred Half Yours (St Jean {Ire}) through a tight gap near the fence coming down Flemington’s home straight.
The early leader Land Legend (Fr) (Galileo {Ire}) was fading in fast ahead of the pair and a deft shift of the weight from Melham had Tony and Calvin McEvoy’s 5-year-old gelding dodge past to gain clear running.
In the same manner in which he lifted past the G1 Caulfield Cup field last start, the chestnut shot to the head of the field and pulled away to a momentous two and three-quarter-length victory over Joseph O’Brien’s improving Goodie Two Shoes (Ire) (Fastnet Rock), with Middle Earth (GB) (Roaring Lion {USA}) a further length and a half back in third.
Ten years after Michelle Payne became the first female jockey to win the Melbourne Cup, Jamie Melham followed in her footsteps to make history - doubly so as Half Yours became the 13th horse to win the Cups double, and the first Victorian-bred horse to win the Cup since Gala Supreme (Gala Crest) in 1973. Melham’s closeness to the McKennas, breeders and racing owners of the only locally-bred Melbourne Cup runner before his sale last year, makes the victory all the more poignant.
“What a joy, what a joy,” said Tony McEvoy after the race. “This is our great race. It's so special to win it.”
“This is our great race. It's so special to win it.” - Tony McEvoy
“Unbelievable,” was how the win felt for Calvin McEvoy. “Wow, what a horse. He's continued to raise the bar, I've got no words.”
Racing Manager Rayan Moore was “lost for words”, adding, “what a training performance. We’ve come a long way since March.”
It’s a long way indeed from a Benchmark 64 at Sandown, to rise from that second placing to win the Melbourne Cup nine starts later.
“This is what we do it for,” said Melham. “This is why we get up out of bed every morning at 4am, work our arses off, for the last 15 years I've been in this industry. It's tough. It's not all glorious and perfect as everyone can see sometimes … I’ve had some really great days on the track but nothing ever, ever compares to this feeling right now that I'm feeling.”
“I’ve had some really great days on the track but nothing ever, ever compares to this feeling right now that I'm feeling.” - Jamie Melham
Tony McEvoy had thought the race was lost until very late in the game, and expressed his thrill in the victory, saying, “I lost sight of him when that leader went out. My eyes aren't as good as they were, and I caught him ducking back to the inside. What a thrill and what a horse he is, and what a joy he is for us.”
Tony and Calvin McEvoy with Jamie Melham | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Reflecting on buying the stayer on Inglis Digital for a touch over $300,000, he said, “I was trying to get them (Calvin McEvoy and Moore) to stop because I thought it was enough money. They pushed hard to keep going and we had no owner for him. We specked him and wow, what a good decision that was that day. The journey that he has had us on, to be able to do what we've wanted to do to get him to this race. He's a very special horse.”
“They (Calvin McEvoy and Rayan Moore) pushed hard to keep going and we had no owner for him (Half Yours). We specked him and wow, what a good decision that was that day.” - Tony McEvoy
“You don't dream of this day because you think about it, you don't think you're actually going to win the Melbourne Cup,” Melham said. “All week I've been thinking about it, been excited (at the prospect), but no feeling can describe what I felt just then, what I'm still feeling.”
Sales: Tony and Calvin McEvoy, in conjunction with Belmont Bloodstock, secured Half Yours for $305,000 through an Inglis Digital sale dispersing Colin McKenna’s racing stock.
Pedigree: Bred by Janice McKenna, Half Yours is the first stakes winner for his sire, the Group 3-winning St Jean (Ire), and is out of Desert King (Ire) mare La Gazelle, who is herself a half-sister to G3 Queen’s Cup winner Moudre (Blevic) and 11-time winner Knock Knock (Anyone Home). St Jean stands at Grant Dwyer’s Brackley Park for $11,000 inc GST.
Dance goes Boom in third straight win
Exceedance mare Dance To The Boom relished her return to stakes company on Tuesday with a decisive victory in the G3 Hong Kong Jockey Club Stakes at Flemington. The 4-year-old Bjorn Baker trainee brought up her sixth win in nine starts - and her second at stakes level, after winning the Listed Gosford Guineas last year - with victory by a neck over Roll On High (Shamus Award), with Jenni The Fox (Too Darn Hot {GB}) earning a bit of black-type in third.
Baker’s elation was tempered slightly by the fall of Blake Shinn off of She’s Got Pizzazz (Zoustar), saying, “you never quite like to win under those circumstances with the fall in the race, so I just hope Blake and all the team are okay and the horse, first and foremost.”
He followed up with thanking his own jockey’s performance; “It was a good ride by Kerrin McEvoy, a great day for the family too. She's a stakes winner already, and I was surprised she went off at those odds. Of course, Victorian-bred, so we can't claim it all, and Kiwi-owned, so it's very much an Australasian flavour to this horse.
“It was a good ride (on Dance To The Boom) by Kerrin McEvoy, a great day for the family too.” - Bjorn Baker
“She's a good horse, she's underrated, and she came in great form. She was fit. It was a good ride from Kerrin, she had an awkward gate, and halfway through the run, I wasn't necessarily happy, but I think she probably got to the right part of the track and it worked out well.”
“Full credit to Bjorn and his team,” Kerrin McEvoy added. “She travelled down here in really good order, she was great going to the start, and I knew she was on song.”
Sales: Jo Lindsay of Cambridge Stud paid $250,000 for Dance To The Boom at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, where she was offered by Rosemont Stud.
Pedigree: Dance To The Boom is the first foal from Bim Bam Boom (I Am Invincible) an unraced half-sister to Group 1 winner Albany Reunion (Fastnet Rock) and Group 1-performed Fast Dragon (Fastnet Rock). Bim Bam Boom has a full brother to Dance To The Boom on the ground this season.
Roaring Lion sons quinella Kirin Ichiban Plate
Roaring Lion (USA) only served one season at Tweenhills before succumbing to colic while shuttling to New Zealand, but the impact of that one crop can be felt the world over, and on Tuesday, it delivered the quinella for the Listed Kirin Ichiban Plate on Melbourne Cup day.
Gavin Bedggood’s Kingswood (GB) fought it out with Saint George (GB), trained by Ciaron Maher, in a big finish that saw the pair draw away from the pack before Kingswood prevailed by a long neck. Two further lengths separated Saint George from third-placed finisher Shaiyhar (Ire) (Camelot {GB}). A protest by second against first, for interference around the 300-metre mark, was swiftly dismissed.
The winner of four from 16 starts, the lightly-raced 6-year-old entire was the winner of the G3 Coogny Cup last year and was returning to Flemington after finishing eighth in the G2 Hill Stakes behind Lindermann (Lonhro) last start.
“I thought he ran a blinder first up, the form was franked out of that,” Bedggood said of the grey’s lead-up runs. “(We) went to Sydney, we had to ride him forward, that was the pattern of the day. Thought he was the winner cornering, then thought he was going to run third or fourth at the furlong, and he just hit the firm ground up there and (it) pulled him up that day.
“We didn't want heavy ground because he's not that (good) at it, but a soft five today is the perfect track for him.”
The better ground and the better pacing in the Kirin Ichiban suited Kingswood far better than his Sydney tilt.
Kingswood (GB) won the Listed Kirin Ichiban Plate at Flemington on Tuesday | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“I think he's probably better ridden a little bit more conservatively than what we did that day, but the way the pattern was that day, we had to ride him forward,” said Bedggood. “He got a lovely run in transit today, a perfectly prepared track, a soft five, it was ideal for him.
“He (Kingswood) got a lovely run in transit today, a perfectly prepared track, a soft five, it was ideal for him.” - Gavin Bedggood
“We're not a stable that's been around for a long time; we're not inundated with bluebloods, so very grateful to my owners for sending him our way and great to get a result on such a big day like this.”
Gavin Bedggood | Image courtesy of Racing Photos
The Listed Ballarat Cup was next on the grey’s agenda, and Bedggood also shared that the Perth carnival wasn’t out of the question.
Sales: Owner Glynnn Davies paid €130,000 (AU$229,000) for Kingswood out of the Staffordstown draft at the 2021 Goffs Ireland Yearling Sale.
Pedigree: Kingswood is the second stakeswinner from multiple Listed winner All At Sea (GB) (Sea The Stars {GB}), and is a half-brother to European Champion 3-Year-Old Stayer Eldar Eldarov (GB), who stands at Chapel Stud. His second dam is the influential Group 1 winner Albanova (GB) (Alzao {USA}), grandam of G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Alpinista (GB) (Frankel {GB}).
Gringotts returns to Big Dance for another tango
Ciaron Maher has cemented himself as the country cups king by training the trifecta in the $3 million Big Dance at Randwick on Tuesday, where last year’s winner Gringotts (NZ) (Per Incanto {USA}) returned in style to claim back-to-back wins in the event.
After travelling mid-pack for most of the event, Nash Rawiller had to ask for some seriously fancy footwork from the 6-year-old gelding to weave his way to the front and get around early leader Lugh (Snitzel) before dashing away with the race within the final furlong. Lugh finished in third, with Vivy Air (Hellbent) sprinting home from out wide to finish second by a length and a fifth.
“We tried to show off last year with the first two, but (to get the) first three, all credit to the team,” said Johann Gerard-Dubord, Maher's New South Wales assistant trainer. “It's a real team effort, to get all three peaking today and running as well as they did.
“We tried to show off last year with the first two, but (to get the) first three (in the Big Dance), all credit to the team.” - Johann Gerard-Dubord
“This is a great day today, a lot of prizemoney, the racing in Sydney is great, and it's good to get the job done.”
Gerad-Dubord shared that there is a chance that the two runners-up could back up into the lucrative Five Diamonds on Saturday, should they pull up well enough, whereas Gringotts will be set for bigger and better things, including a G1 George Ryder Stakes defense in the autumn.
Johann Gerard-Dubord | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“Vivy Air was tough,” Gerad-Dubord said. “She was good again late and she is very honest. Lugh, it was his biggest test he had to face, he went forward, did a bit of work and fought hard to the finish.”
Sales: Gringotts was a NZ$100,000 purchase from Book 1 of the 2021 New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale, then was passed in when offered with a NZ$450,000 reserve at the 2021 New Zealand Bloodstock Ready To Run Sale. He was later a private purchase for Maher and connections, with the price rumoured to be over $700,000.
Pedigree: Gringotts’ dam Miss Bluebell (NZ) (Savabeel) is a half-sister to the dam of G2 Wellington Guineas winner Vegas Queen (NZ) (Proisir), and is out of a half-sister to the dam of Winx (Street Cry {Ire}). She has a Proisir 2-year-old filly and a Satono Aladdin (Jpn) yearling colt to come, and is due to foal to Per Incanto (USA) this season.
