With a 1000m to go, the field was well spread out with Twilight Payment in the lead, two lengths ahead of Finche with Irish horse Finch eight lengths off the pace. At the 500m stage, the gap between the two frontrunners was still two lengths.
Tiger Moth made a surging run in the home straight, passing Finch and challenging Twilight Payment. In a dramatic finish, Twilight Payment held on by a third of a length to deny Tiger Moth and give owner Lloyd Williams his seventh victory and the prize money of £2.3m.
O’Brien said of the Twilight Payment: “The horse has got incredible heart. Jye gave him a fantastic ride, and he has a huge will to win, and he just kept on fighting all the way to the line”.
The result made it a 1-2 for the O’Brien family as his father was the rider of Tiger Moth, the son beating the father, just as he did three years ago when Rekindling beat Johannes Vermeer.
“We both realise how hard it is to win on the world stage in these big, big races, but I am very lucky that I have been able to win a couple of big races,” said Joseph.
“Dad has been very lucky, he has won a lot of big races, I’d be delighted for him if he had won, and I’m sure he is for me having won. We do our best on the track and whatever happens, out there happens.”
The race, however, was overshadowed by the news that the winner of last year’s Derby at Epsom, Anthony Van Dyck, was euthanised after suffering a broken leg in the race. The horse, trained in Ireland by Aidan O’Brien, was pulled up in the Melbourne Cup by jockey Hugh Bowman.
Racing Victoria’s Jamie Stier said: “The horse received immediate veterinary care. He was unable to be saved due to the nature of the injury sustained”.
Stier added that it was the fourth fatality following the Cup in the last eight runnings of the race. The Cliffsofmoher died in 2018, while Red Cadeaux (2015) and Verama (2013) also suffered limb injuries.
Melbourne Cup result
- 1 Twilight Payment 25-1
- 2 Tiger Moth 11-2
- 3 Prince Of Arran 17-2
- 4 The Chosen One 40-1
- 23 ran
