Point of Law, formerly owned by the King, wins Melbourne Cup at Flemington
Ethan Brown rode Point of Law to victory at Flemington in this year's Melbourne Cup on Tuesday, the three-year-old having been previously owned by King Charles.
Point of Law was bought from the King earlier this year for an undisclosed sum and had been considered an early favourite for the race. The Melbourne Cup, which has run in Australia since 1861 and is often referred to as the "race that stops a nation", carries a prize of A$10.2m ($7.04m; £5.3m) and is the country's third richest race while being regarded as its most prestigious.
Brown moved Point of Law from the middle of the pack to take the lead with just a few hundred metres to go. He said he was telling himself "just stay cool, stay patient" as Royal Supremacy raced more than a dozen lengths ahead, before pushing Point of Law from the middle of the pack to overtake on the home stretch. "Don't wake me up, this is every jockey's dream," Brown said in a post-race interview.
Trained by Ciaron Maher, Point of Law won the Geelong Cup last month. Brown described the winner as: "He's going to be a superstar horse. He's something special," and added: "He's in the best of hands with Ciaron Maher." Maher had a record seven horses in this year's cup, including the second and first place runners, Zahrann and Juja Kibo.
The ownership group that bought Point of Law from the King includes former AFL player Chris Judd and his wife Bec. Brown, who grew up in Alice Springs, said he never dreamed as a kid that he would be riding the Melbourne Cup and that he had been given "a lot of great support" during his career.
Brown also recalled a serious fall in 2023 that sent him to hospital and kept him out of racing for six months, saying he was "inches from losing my life". Tens of thousands of people enjoyed sunny weather at Flemington on Tuesday and were entertained by Robbie Williams; organisers said the UK pop star's appearance, which included a 10-piece band, backup dancers and pyrotechnics, was the biggest pre-cup performance ever staged at Flemington.
The day included controversy when Asterix was scratched after it was discovered a stable worker had administered the medication penetrene earlier that morning. Penetrene is used to treat inflammation and muscle soreness but no treatments of any kind are permitted on race day; race stewards said the medication was applied in error but still constituted a "serious breach", the Age reported. Trainer Chris Waller was reportedly fined A$50,000 (£26,000; $35,000) for what he described as a simple mistake by a staff member under pressure.
Outside Flemington, crowds from the Australia-wide "Nup to the Cup" movement gathered to protest against horse racing, with some holding signs reading "horse racing kills", "don't bet on cruelty" and "no more whips". A Guardian Essential poll found just 9% of people said they had high interest in the race and 23% had moderate interest, while more than 60% said it was a unique part of Australia's national identity; last year the Melbourne Cup drew a record $382.5 million in bets.