The four-year-old stallion bided his time for the first 2,900 metres as rank outsider Royal Supremacy opened up a lead of 20 lengths but exploded off the final corner and sprinted home to win the A$10.2 million handicap by two lengths.
“Please don’t wake me up, it’s an amazing feeling,” jockey Ethan Brown said from the saddle as he brought the 6-1 second favourite in.
“I looked up and Royal Supremacy was about 20 in front. I thought, ‘oh, God, just stay cool, stay patient, cut the bend’. And once he got that clear running, his turn of foot was enormous. He’s going to be a superstar horse if he isn’t already.”
Zahrann finished second ahead of Juja Kibo to give Maher, who co-trained 2022 winner Gold Trip and had seven horses in the race, a sweep of the top three.
Irish trainer Joseph O’Brien prepared five horses for the race but had to settle for a best finish of fourth place through Sons and Lovers.
Favourite Hopewell Rock finished ninth, while Royal Supremacy’s reward for leading for most of the race was fifth place.
Jockey Brown left his home in Alice Springs in Australia’s remote Northern Territory as a teenager to chase his dream and spent six months out of the sport after a nasty fall at Flemington three years ago.
“I was inches from losing my life, but a bit of time off and I realised I wasn’t any good at anything else,” he said.
“There was a slow burn inside of me.”
The 27-year-old paid tribute to the trust Maher had placed in him by giving him the ride.
“He’s one of many people, but he’s believed in me. He showed that by putting me on.”
Maher returned the compliment during the post-race ceremony.
“I could just see how dedicated he was this year,” said the former jockey, who has made a success of importing horses to train and race in Australia.
“He was dialled in and that was a beautiful exhibition of how to ride a horse in the Melbourne Cup.”
Earlier, Asterix was scratched and trainer Chris Waller fined A$50,000 hours before the race after a stablehand applied a liniment to the gelding’s forelegs without permission from the stewards. (Reuters)