Knight’s Choice, ridden by Irish jockey Robbie Dolan, claimed Lexus Melbourne Cup gold as European trainers including Willie Mullins failed to fire in the Flemington feature. Ireland and Britain appeared set to mount strong challenges for the two-mile contest with Mullins’s pair of Vauban and Absurde joined by Harry Eustace’s Bendigo Cup winner Sea King and the Brian Ellison-trained Geelong Cup hero Onesmoothoperator towards the head of the betting. None of them could land a blow, however, as Knight’s Choice and Japanese runner Warp Speed battled it out in the dying strides, with Australia-based Kildare man Dolan just prevailing on Knight’s Choice, who is trained in partnership by John Symons and Sheila Laxon. Absurde fared best of the European quartet in fifth, improving on last year’s seventh place, while Mullins’s other entrant, Vauban, finished 11th. Onesmoothoperator came 12th and Sea King 14th of the 23 runners.

Dolan rode in Ireland for a couple of seasons before moving to Australia, where he hit the headlines off the track after featuring on TV series The Voice in 2022. “Pinch me, I think I’m dreaming! It’s incredible, I can’t believe it,” he told Channel Nine. “I’ve never ridden in this race before so I didn’t know what to expect, but I feel like I’ve ridden in it 10 times because I’ve ran the race in my head before I got here. It panned out exactly as I thought it would. I thought I’d be closer, but they went quick and I decided I’d ride him for luck as I know he’s got a good turn of foot. Sheila and John were so confident in this horse before he got to the race, a lot of people doubted him but I didn’t.”

Dolan’s father Bobby worked for Dermot Weld in Ireland and surprised his son by arriving in Australia before the race. The winning rider added: “I woke up Sunday morning and he was standing in my kitchen – I couldn’t believe it. Win, lose or draw, it was a great day for me but to win it with him here as well as my partner and daughter, I’m going to cry again!” It was a second Melbourne Cup success for Laxon, who became the first woman to officially train the winner of the race when she saddled Ethereal to victory in 2001. She said: “It’s fantastic, we’ve got some fabulous owners and had lots of help along the way from everyone at Macedon Lodge [training base] and people back home. The most special moment for me is my son John and daughter Lucy came over with their children, it’s just such an amazing experience to share it with them.” Symons added: “This is the pinnacle of all pinnacles, we’ve just won the Melbourne Cup.”

Mullins said he has not given up on his Lexus Melbourne Cup ambitions after falling short with the same runners he had entered in last year’s feature. On Tuesday both Absurde and Vauban were settled in the pack through the early stages before trying to challenge in the straight. Vauban’s run down the middle of the track soon petered out to finish 11th, but Absurde made strides on the inside rail and was eventually beaten just under two lengths in fifth. Mullins could envisage a third attempt on the race for Absurde, although Vauban appears unlikely to try his luck again. “We will see how Vauban is in the morning, but the writing appeared to be on the wall from halfway,” the trainer told Channel Nine. “I was delighted with Absurde. Kerrin [McEvoy] wanted to have him a little bit closer but he got a little bit of trouble or something early on, he got a bit further back than he anticipated passing the winning post. To run the way he did and finish the way he did from that position was a hell of a run – we’re delighted with him. I would say Absurde might come back, but it’s probably not Vauban’s track. I’m sure [Absurde’s owner] the HOS Syndicate will be keen to come back and we’ll see what happens. We’ll try to find one or two more.

Knight’s Choice was returned a huge outsider for the race with Warp Speed another long-shot after he finished well down the field in the Caulfield Cup for trainer Noboru Takagi on his Australian bow. Beaten just a short head, stable spokesman Kosi Kawakami told www.racing.com: “It was obviously a great run and we knew we could turn the form around, we were confident but at the same time, we just never be sure in racing, but he proved that. We are very, very proud of him but at the same time, with that little margin, we just desperately wanted to win this race, the same as everyone else.” Ex-Joseph O’Brien runner Okita Soushi was three-quarters of a length back in third for jockey Jamie Kah after racing prominently throughout. She said: “Fantastic run. Couldn’t have asked for anything more from the horse. Got me a bit excited at the 200 [metre mark]. I thought he was going to hang on, but he’s just a genuine one-pace horse, but couldn’t ask for anything more of him.”

If the Melbourne Cup is looking to expand its appeal beyond thoroughbred diehards, organisers could not have asked for a better winner of the 2024 race. The jockey who rode outsider Knight’s Choice to victory is less known for his horsecraft, and more for his appearance on The Voice. In riding the gelding’s late kick all the way to the post, Robbie Dolan became the first widely recognised singer to win the Cup, “unless … Ronan Keating hasn’t won a Melbourne Cup, has he?”, the jockey joked afterwards. Both were born in Ireland and proved to be the main attractions at Flemington on Tuesday. They even shared a post-race embrace. But while Keating is just a visitor to these shores, Dolan now calls Australia home, a country he can barely praise enough. “If you’re willing to work hard, you’ll be rewarded,” he said.

The 28-year-old moved to Australia eight years ago after a lack of opportunities in his own country, and although he has a long family history with racing – his father Bobby worked for two-time Melbourne Cup winning trainer Dermot Weld in Ireland – music almost drew him away. “I could have easily given up riding to do the music, but I just loved it too much,” Dolan said. “You work so hard not only as a jockey, but just in the racing industry – you get up early hours, long days, long nights, and not a lot of breaks.” “Once I started doing a little bit of music, it was a nice change. I’d just been grafting for 10 years before that. At one stage, I was struggling to get a few rides, and I was thinking, ‘gee I might just do the music on the side’. And then I just missed riding winners, I missed the camaraderie of the jockeys in the room.”

It was actually his musical talents that led Dolan to Knight’s Choice trainer Sheila Laxon two years ago. “I was singing on the Melbourne Cup cruise, and Sheila was there with the Melbourne Cup,” he said. “I met her, and I got a photo with her and the Melbourne Cup, and now we’ve won the freaking Melbourne Cup.” That sense of destiny was given greater weight when Dolan walked downstairs at home on Sunday to find his father – the source of his connection to horses, who he thought was back in Ireland – in his kitchen. “He surprised me, I didn’t know he was coming,” Dolan said. “I just said to my parents it was a good thing I didn’t come down naked.” His father was clearly happy he made the trip to the other side of the world, saying he was “over the moon” in the immediate aftermath of the race. With a sense of humour not dissimilar to his son’s he grinned proudly, saying “I’ve bred a Melbourne Cup winner.”

The surprise was engineered by Dolan’s partner Christine, who gave birth to their daughter two years ago. Maisie was born 15 weeks premature and spent 110 days in intensive care. Dolan has developed a ritual of singing Take Me to the River to her. “Maisie is taking it in her stride,” Christine said. “She is a professional and watched him in the Cox Plate and is used to the hustle and bustle of it all. She is a little fighter as well, she is very brave, she was born early but she is kicking goals now.” Dolan’s family remained front of mind, even when he found himself on the summit of Australian racing. “Christine does everything for me, and little Maisie, I was rushing around trying to get ready for the Melbourne Cup this morning, and then she’s watching her iPad and just oblivious to everything.”

Dolan warned – given planned celebrations – he may not make it to Ipswich for his scheduled rides on Thursday. The man who had never won a race at the Melbourne Cup carnival, and was eliminated in the semi-finals of the Voice, recognises the significance of his – and Knight’s Choice’s – achievement. “You can never take this away from us, ever, that’s all that matters.”