Knight’s Choice shock winner of Melbourne Cup

The five-year-old, ridden by Irish jockey Robbie Dolan and trained in partnership by John Symons and Sheila Laxon, was priced at 90/1 and won a dramatic photo finish by a short head.

It was a second Melbourne Cup victory for Laxon, having saddled Ethereal back in 2001.

The heavily-backed European raiders disappointed with Willie Mullins' Absurde finishing fifth, improving on last year’s seventh place, while stablemate Vauban was 11th, Brian Ellison-trained Geelong Cup hero Onesmoothoperator 12th and Harry Eustace’s Bendigo Cup winner Sea King 14th of the 23 runners.

Dolan, who featured on TV series The Voice in 2022. rode in Ireland for a couple of seasons before moving to Australia.

“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 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.

“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!”

Laxon 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.”

Warp Speed 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 can 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.”