Knight's Choice Surprising Melbourne Cup Winner

Knight's Choice etched his name into Australian folklore when running out a shock winner of the Melbourne Cup (G1) Nov. 5 at Flemington Racecourse and in the process provided his sire, Newgate Farm resident Extreme Choice, with his fourth group 1 winner.

Leaving plenty of onlookers stunned at what had just unfolded in front of them in the AU$8.56 million (US$5.68 million) race, the AU$91 chance delivered a second Melbourne Cup win for co-trainer Sheila Laxon, after Ethereal in 2001, and a first for her training partner John Symons.

Steered home by Robbie Dolan, the gelded 5-year-old burrowed his way between rivals down the home straight and, once hitting the front inside the final 150 meters, held out on the bob to beat Japanese raider Warp Speed. Oddly enough, the front two had finished next to each other but well back in last month's Caulfield Cup (G1), with Knight's Choice running 14th at three-figure odds while Warp Speed finished one place in front of his rival on that occasion in 13th place.

On Tuesday the front pair finished a further 0.8 lengths clear of third-placed Okita Soushi .

With his AU$91 success, Knight's Choice is the fifth-highest-priced winner of the Melbourne Cup.

"It's incredible. I just can't believe it. I don't even know what to say," Dolan, whose father, Bobby Dolan, was also a jockey in Ireland, said. "I can't even put it into words. This is the biggest race in the world, and to win it is just incredible.

"I've got my family here, my partner, Christine, our little baby, Masie. My dad flew over from Ireland, and now you got me in tears.

"I watched every Melbourne Cup over the last 40 years the other night. I just thought my best chance is if I get him to stay the trip and hopefully he can rattle home and quicken up them; good sectionals that he can do on a good track. He just proved everybody wrong."

Dolan was having his first-ever ride in the race, and was quick to pay tribute to both Laxon and Symons.

"I've never ridden this race before, so I didn't know what to expect, but I feel like I've ridden it 10 times because I've run the race over in my head before I got here. It panned out exactly as I thought it would," he said. "I thought I'd be a pair closer, but they went quick. I just rode him for luck because I know he's got a good turn of foot. What a training performance.

"There wasn't enough room for me to come outside. So I decided to cut the corner. I heard Kerrin (McEvoy, Absurde) giving me a call along the inside. I initially would have gone for the run that he went for.

"He was going a little bit better than me. Once my horse spotted the gap and he sort of changed leads, and he just sort of picked up on me. Once I pulled the stick through, he found another gear again. He's only a small little horse, but he gives his all every start, and that's half the battle with him, I think and he's proved a lot of people wrong.

"You can't do it without the trainers like Sheila and John. They were so confident in this horse even before he got to this race and a lot of people doubted them. To be honest, I didn't. I really liked his run the other day at Bendigo. He hit the line really well and was unlucky not to be placed."

Dolan revealed that meeting Laxon had been something of a moment of fate, in an environment that not many would quite expect.

"We met on a P&O cruise, two years ago," he revealed. "I was singing on a Melbourne Cup cruise and Sheila was there with the Melbourne Cup, and here we are, we've won the Melbourne Cup."

Bred by Norm Bazeley's Elswick Stud out of the More Than Ready mare Midnight Pear, who Bazeley purchased for just AU$1,000 at the Inglis Great Southern Bloodstock and Weanling Sale in 2013, Knight's Choice only made his debut as a 3-year-old, winning four in a row at the end of that season, including the Winx Guineas (G3), prompting connections to be offered AU$2.7 million for the gelding.

Having batted that offer away, the ownership would likely have been slightly ruing that decision prior to Tuesday's phenomenal success, with Knight's Choice having scored on just a sole occasion since that group 3 win in July 2023, landing a 2,000-meter handicap at Doomben Dec. 2, 2023. 

"It was just an awesome and amazing ride by Robbie," Laxon, who was the first woman to lift the Melbourne Cup as a trainer, said. "We didn't give him instructions, he just knew what to do. Obviously, when you win something like this, it takes a while to register. John is over the moon and the owners are just so thrilled. It's great to be part of it."

In winning Tuesday's group 1, Knight's Choice became just the fourth Australian-bred horse to win the Melbourne Cup this century.

"Do you know what's great? I love it being done for the Australians," Laxon said. "The Australian horse has done it and Robbie's Australian now as well. So I'm thrilled to win the Cup. It's the people's Cup and that's what it's all about."

Knight's Choice was purchased by Michael Kirby and Symons for AU$85,000 out of the Elswick Park draft at Book 2 of the 2021 Magic Millions Yearling Sale. The gelding is the only winner out of Midnight Pearl, who was a seven-time winner on the track herself from 54 starts, including six of those for Laxon and Symons. She recently foaled a filly by The Autumn Sun after having not had a foal in three years.