Hear what they jockeys had to say following the running of the 2019 Melbourne Cup at Flemington.
Craig Williams (Vow And Declare) 1st : “It was a privilege to ride him today. Look at him, he knows he’s won. I’m so grateful to be given the opportunity. He just gave me a beautiful ride. (Trainer) Danny O’Brien and the owners gave me no instructions. He just said ‘trust the horse’.”
Michael Walker (Prince Of Arran) 2nd : “Charlie and the team have done a great job. I love the horse and I just wanted to win it, you know. I feel like I’ve let him down.”
Wayne Lordan (Il Paradiso) 3rd : “He could’ve done with the tempo a bit quicker. We didn’t get an ideal position but he ran well.”
Frankie Dettori (Master Of Reality) 4th : “I want to cry.”
Jordan Childs (Surprise Baby) 5th : “He ran super. I just had nothing to take me into the race from the 800 (metres) but he’ll be back bigger and better next year.”
Damian Lane (Mer De Glace) 6th : “He was massive. He wasn’t entitled to finish off like he did after the slow tempo. Finished well late.”
Kerrin McEvoy (Finche) 7th : “He ran great. The pace wasn’t that strong. Would’ve liked them to go a bit quicker. But we presented at the top of the lane and I thought he was a real chance there at the 300 (metres). He then just levelled out the last little bit. A brave run.”
William Buick (Cross Counter) 8th : “He ran a huge race … just slowly away.”
Brett Prebble (Steel Prince) 9th : “He ran super but they didn’t go a gallop. He was in a nice position but he wouldn’t switch the chewy off and it just took its toll late.”
Ryan Moore (Magic Wand) 10th : “She had no luck. Got an early bump so we were back further than we wanted and they went too slow up front.”
Hugh Bowman (Twilight Payment) 11th : “He had a really smooth run in transit. He just didn’t have the sprint required to win a Melbourne Cup.”
James Winks (Sound) 12th : “Tempo was ridiculous so he’s run really well.”
Joao Moreira (Constantinople) 13th : “Disappointing, yes. He was going to have a super run.”
Ben Melham (Mirage Dancer) 14th : “He ran well. Probably didn’t quite see out the last part of the race.”
Seamie Heffernan (Hunting Horn) 15th : “I needed to get cover and I couldn’t. The pace was too slow.”
Jamie Spencer (Raymond Tusk) 16th : “Beautiful position but the race was too slow.”
Tim Clark (The Chosen One) 17th : “He went alright. From that draw I had to get a long way back and the pace was no good for him. But he stayed on well.”
James McDonald (Latrobe) 18th : “Just got back in a slowly run race. Hard to get into it.”
Mark Zahra (Southern France) 19th : “Had a tough run … probably didn’t stay.”
Tommy Berry (Youngstar) 20th : “Speed of the race didn’t help her.”
Luke Nolen (Neufbosc) 21st : “They went too steady for me.”
John Allen (Downdraft) 22nd : “Slowly run race mightn’t have suited him. Only I didn’t think that he ran out the trip.”
Damien Oliver (Mustajeer) 23rd : “They just went ridiculously slow and it didn’t suit my horse. Probably didn’t get a chance to run to his best.”
Dwayne Dunn (Rostropovich) 24th : “He hasn’t pulled up too well, he’s obviously sustained an injury somewhere in the run.”
