Australia’s most historic sporting event, the Gr1 A$8.56 million Lexus Melbourne Cup (3200m), has a new chapter etched into the history books after Queensland-trained Knight’s Choice won the nation’s greatest race at Flemington Racecourse on Tuesday to the cheers of a bumper 91,168 racegoers, a 7.3% increase on last year’s attendance.
Knight’s Choice (Robbie Dolan) wins the 2024 Lexus Melbourne Cup (Pic – Flemington Racecourse and Victoria racing Club)
The first woman to train a winner of the Lexus Melbourne Cup in 2001, Sheila Laxon, returned to the race for the first time since her historic victory with Ethereal. Now in a training partnership with husband John Symons, she maintained her perfect Lexus Melbourne Cup record as Knight’s Choice – ridden by first-time Cup jockey Robbie Dolan – edged out Japanese challenger Warp Speed.
Okita Soushi finished third, less than a length from the winner, with Jamie Kah becoming the first female jockey to place in the Lexus Melbourne Cup twice.
Knight’s Choice’s win was the highlight on a spectacular day of racing that proved a showcase of the next generation of trainers to a wider audience.
One of Australian racing’s great dynasties, the Hayes family, won the Gr3 Darley Maribyrnong Plate for the 10th time with Tycoon Star. Young trainers Michael Hickmott, Liam Howley and Dominic Sutton all recorded their first Melbourne Cup Carnival victories.
Hickmott, from Murray Bridge in South Australia, prepared Fancify to win the Gr3 Hong Kong Jockey Club Stakes (1400m); Howley’s Opening Address took out the Listed TAB Trophy (1800m) for three-year-olds, a race that has proven a stepping stone to Group 1 glory in the past; and Sutton, who only had his first runner in March, won the Australian Heritage Cup (2800m) with outsider Garachico.
At the conclusion of today’s racing, the Ron Hutchinson Award – presented to the leading jockey over the four days of the Melbourne Cup Carnival – is led by James McDonald, who has opened up a big lead on his rivals with two winners on Lexus Melbourne Cup Day to go with a treble on Penfolds Victoria Derby Day. He has amassed 22 points through two days, ahead of Jamie Kah on 13 and Blake Shinn on 10.
In the race for the trainer’s equivalent, the J B Cummings Award, it is a tight battle at the top between the last three winners of the Lexus Melbourne Cup.
Ciaron Maher ended day two in front on 12.5 points from Anthony and Sam Freedman on 11 and Chris Waller on 10.
Remarkably, from 19 races so far at this year’s Melbourne Cup Carnival, there have been 14 different winning stables.
