When Half Yours commenced his spring campaign, the father-and-son training team of Tony and Calvin McEvoy had aspirations of a Group 1 race in Sydney. But one fateful weekend where Half Yours was an emergency for a race in Sydney along with one in Melbourne swung the pendulum in a different direction. The decision to head to Melbourne instead of staying in Sydney proved pivotal in Half Yours winning the Group 1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) on Saturday.
The Metropolitan (2400m) at Randwick on October 4 had been Half Yours’ immediate Group 1 goal after a win on the Sunshine Coast in July and a spell in the warmer climate.
However, when made an emergency in the Kingston Town Stakes in Sydney on September 20, the McEvoy’s made the decision to put the stayer on the truck and send him to Melbourne to run in the Naturalism Stakes (2000m) at Caulfield that same day. Success in that contest provided Half Yours with a ballot exemption into the Caulfield Cup and a fourth-place finish in the Turnbull Stakes (2000m) at Flemington on October 4 pushed the gelding to the top of Caulfield Cup markets.
With Jamie Melham aboard the $2.50 favourite, Half Yours scored by a long neck from River Of Stars ($91) with Valiant King ($26) a length away third.
Half Yours started his career with the Ciaron Maher stable before he was purchased on the recommendation of the McEvoy’s racing manager Rayan Moore. Tony McEvoy said the trip away to Queensland in the middle of the year had really made Half Yours mature as a horse.
McEvoy has been associated with many good horses over his career in racing that started with Colin Hayes at Lindsay Park in Angaston in the 1970’s.
“This is why we do it, to have a runner in these,” McEvoy said.
“They’re bloody hard to win, and that was incredible.
“He’s come a long way in six months, this fellow, hasn’t he? And travelling really grows horses up, as he was a big raw horse.”
“The way he came into the paddock today, he looked like he’d arrived as a stayer and then he went and did that today.
“It’s so very exciting.”
“I was so happy in the run, and then mid-race when that horse (Adelaide River) took off, I thought this is not ideal, because if someone panics, it dishevels everything.
“But then he got into his rhythm and did the rest. It was fabulous, and I’m looking forward to watching it again.”
For Melham it was her 17th win at Group 1 level, but her first in one of the majors.
“I’ve tried not to think about it for the last few days because I just wanted to come out here and ride him and give him the best ride I could because I knew he was the best horse in the race,” Melham said.
“Just saying Caulfield Cup is going to make me cry. I’ve had an incredible career and ridden 17 Group 1’s now, but that major has obviously eluded me, and I just wanted to get one.
“Now I want more, maybe a Melbourne Cup and this horse is going to run that trip out.”
Following the win in Saturday’s Caulfield Cup, Half Yours was promoted to the top of betting for the Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington on November 4 at $3.50, replacing Al Riffa who is on the second line at $6 with Saturday’s third placegetter Valiant King on the third line at $11.
