Jamie Melham, riding Half Yours, leads the field home in the Melbourne Cup. Photo / Getty Images
Jamie Melham won Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup riding Half Yours. Here’s what the beaten jockeys said.
Wayne Lordan (Goodie Two Shoes): “Ran a wonderful race, got a nice position from my draw and she’s run a cracker. Just one better today but ran great.”
Ethan Brown (Middle Earth): “He ran great. This is obviously his trip, he showed his true colours today. He’s going to be a much better horse next prep, that’ll toughen him up, but he couldn’t have run much better.”
Beau Mertens (River Of Stars): “She was fantastic. Slow tempo didn’t suit her but when Land Legend took off, it really made her relax and in a comfortable position. She travelled in really well, probably didn’t have the sprint like the others but she sustained a good gallop through the line. Very proud of her.”
Celine Gaudray (Torranzino): “Couldn’t be more happier with the run that we got. He was a bit on the bridle throughout, but he had a really tough finish.”
Blake Shinn (Vauban): “He ran super. Big turnaround from the Caulfield Cup. Hit the line well but the winner and the other horse had a bit better turn-of-foot. Very proud of the horse.”
Mark Zahra (Al Riffa): “It was okay. I was four-wide and had to find a spot to get in and there was too much to do with that weight.”
Kerrin McEvoy (Absurde): “He ran well. The pace wasn’t that strong through the first part, had to give them a start. He picked up into it well, good honest run.”
Tim Clark (Changingoftheguard): “I thought he ran really well. Just when Land Legend went around, we were in a position where we had to cart the field up, which probably cost him running a few placings closer up.”
James McDonald (Meydaan): “He ran well. Got into a lovely spot, switched off well but probably just found the 3200 a fraction far.”
Michael Dee (Furthur): “He’s very inexperienced still, he was a touch slow out, travelled very, very strong. We were getting knocked about the first time past the post but travelled strong, held up a nice gallop all the way to the line but his first half he’s just raced a little bit ungenerously.”
Rachel King (Arapaho): “Really brave. He hasn’t had the best set up coming into today, but honest as ever.”
Thore Hammer-Hansen (Flatten The Curve): “I found myself a lot further back than ideal, but he still ran a good race considering. Just probably went too quick early doors.”
Ben Melham (Smokin’ Romans): “He ran well, the old bugger. He’s just had a prep where he’s probably been running on firm ground. He’s got a bit soft ground and he’s just a bit over it. Proud of him anyway.”
Robbie Dolan (Royal Supremacy): “The wide barrier wasn’t in his aid today, once I couldn’t get cover on him, he straight away just over-raced into the first bend, I had to flow with him to get him to relax and it just told late.”
Harry Coffey (Onesmoothoperator): “He had a lovely run but when the pressure came at the 600, he failed to quicken, the wheels were spinning on the soft going.”
Jye McNeil (Valiant King): “They found their spots quickly inside me; I wasn’t able to give him every chance today – he had to do it too tough three-wide facing the breeze. Initially, I had cover from Land Legend but when he went, I was stranded.”
Tommy Berry (More Felons): “It was a very muddling run race, and it made it sort of hard to move into it early enough from where we were and he’s battled on okay.”
Stephane Pasquier (Presage Nocturne): “A bit disappointed because he was favoured in the odds.”
John Velazquez (Parchment Party): Declined to comment.
Declan Bates (Athabascan): “Disappointing. We got deleted early and it sort of put us further back earlier than we wanted. He just hasn’t quite finished off as we would have liked.”
Joao Moreira (Land Legend): “No manners, pushed too hard. He did a lot of things wrong in the race.”
Damian Lane (Chevalier Rose): “Disappointing. Unfortunately, didn’t race to his best today.”
Craig Williams (Buckaroo): “It was a shame we didn’t get to see Buckaroo at his best. We know how good a horse he is, but in today’s race he was not far away from the eventual winner, but he was three-wide on the back and basically put himself out of the race when they went slow.”
– Racing.com
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.