While the 49-year-old Oliver may have broken records this Melbourne Cup Carnival, riding honours went to 29-year-old James McDonald.
McDonald, who won the Ron Hutchinson Award for excellence in the saddle during this year’s Melbourne Cup Carnival, set a new benchmark for individual winners during Cup Week with 10 victories over the four days of racing this week. They included Home Affairs’ success in the Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes, Verry Elleegant’s Lexus Melbourne Cup win for the ages, Nature Strip’s seventh top-flight success in the Group 1 Darley Sprint Classic and a host of impressive stakes victories, including a pair of three-year-old fillies – Fangirl and Espiona – who look to have the world at their feet.
The JB Cummings Excellence Award for trainers has gone to Chris Waller, who saddled up seven winners during Cup Week.
The Melbourne Cup Carnival came to a close with today’s Paramount+ Stakes Day, featuring two of Australia’s feature act thoroughbreds in Zaaki and Nature Strip.
Boom horse Zaaki added a third Australian Group 1 by taking out the day’s feature, the $2 million Group 1 Paramount+ Mackinnon Stakes (2000m), for fledgling trainer Annabel Neasham and an ownership group that includes Victoria Racing Club (VRC) Chairman Neil Wilson.
Nature Strip, a winner of the 2019 Group 1 Darley Sprint Classic (1200m) among six prior victories at the highest level, reclaimed his crown with an emphatic success in the $2 million feature.
For the first time ever, two previous Australian Champion Racehorses of the Year stepped out at Flemington during the Melbourne Cup Carnival with both Nature Strip (2019-20) and Verry Elleegant (2020-21) demonstrating their champion qualities with breathtaking wins for Waller and McDonald.
Throughout the Carnival, 460 horses competed in 37 races, representing an average field size of 12.4 runners. The four race cards, offering more than $27 million in prize money, saw 22 individual trainers and 16 jockeys enjoy victory.
VRC Chief Executive Officer Steve Rosich said it had been a stellar week at Flemington, both on and off the track.
“It was one of the most exciting Melbourne Cup Carnivals, headlined by the victory of a champion, Verry Elleegant, in the Lexus Melbourne Cup and the record-setting feats of two of the best to have ever graced the saddle in Damien Oliver and James McDonald,” Mr Rosich said.
“The Melbourne Cup Carnival is where history and tradition sits side by side with innovation and evolution. The Victoria Racing Club is proud to have welcomed racegoers to Flemington for Cup Week to showcase Melbourne, just as we have done for more than 160 years, and we are delighted that it had all the hallmarks of a traditional Melbourne Cup Carnival even with restricted capacity.
“It was also great that those watching on Network 10 had a front row seat for all the action and could participate from home through innovations like Myer Fashions on your Front Lawn.”
As part of an approved COVID safe event plan, racegoers were separated into three zones, each offering a different and unique experience for long-time members and first-time visitors alike. The Purple Zone included the Club Stand and the Grandstand for members and owners, the Green Zone included the Hill Stand and Lawn Stand as well as the front lawn opposite the winning post, while the Pink Zone contained parade lawn pods and private marquees.
“We are grateful to the Victorian Government for their work with us in determining a COVID-safe event plan that allowed us to host 5,500 on Penfolds Victoria Derby Day and 10,000 each on Lexus Melbourne Cup Day, Kennedy Oaks Day and Paramount+ Mackinnon Stakes Day,” Mr Rosich said.
“It may not have been a familiar Melbourne Cup Carnival experience but under the current circumstances, it was fantastic to be able to welcome racegoers back as the first step towards Victoria and Australia opening up to the world once more and the feedback we have received from on-course patrons has been very positive.
“We look forward to welcoming more racegoers to Flemington in 2022 for a renewed Melbourne Cup Carnival experience.”
More than 1.9 million Australians watched the Lexus Melbourne Cup across Network 10’s platforms, whilst audiences across Racing.com, Sky and TAB platforms pushed the total audience beyond 2.5 million people for the race that stops the nation.
Furthermore, the Lexus Melbourne Cup had the biggest live streaming audience for an annual Australia sporting event in history across multiple streaming platforms with 652,000 unique users.
For the first time the Lexus Melbourne Cup was also broadcast into the Metaverse through ZED RUN, which broke new ground in presenting major events and has set an exciting platform to build on for the future.
Off the track, it was a hotly contested final in the Myer Fashions on your Front Lawn National Competition, with state and territory finalists joined by wildcard entrants picked by style spotters from racegoers on Penfolds Victoria Derby Day and Lexus Melbourne Cup Day.
Ultimately it was New South Wales who reigned supreme, taking out both the women’s and men’s national final. Viera Macikova’s red-and-white look proved a winner, with her pleated silk Rodarte midi dress exuding a timeless race wear look. Kalombo Ntumba took out the men’s national competition wearing a tailored double breasted blazer splashed in a standout shade of turquoise that caught the judges’ attention.
