Australia: Horse of the Year Verry Elleegant upsets Melbourne Cup, pays $32.70 in American pools

Verry Elleegant’s 10th Group 1 win made Australia’s Horse of the Year even more of a household name.

Tuesday at Flemington Racecourse, Verry Elleegant won the $5.82 million Melbourne Cup, the nation’s most famous race, with a commanding four-length victory over Incentivise, the 3-2 favorite who had won his last nine starts.

Verry Elleegant, ridden by James McDonald, raced in the middle of the 23-horse field before moving closer to the front with a half-mile remaining. McDonald urged Verry Elleegant to the front with more than a furlong remaining and got a quick response.

“I was very confident in the mare,” McDonald told the media. “Thoughts went through my mind at the 500 meters when I saw Incentivise getting shoved along, but I knew he would fight.

“There wasn’t a horse that was going to come from behind me. It was just a matter of catching him.”

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Incentivise, who stalked the pace, finished a half-length in front of the Kentucky-bred Spanish Mission, trained in England by Andrew Balding and one of two European-based runners in the field. Spanish Mission was the 5-1 second choice in American pools.

Trainer Peter Moody told Flemington racing officials that Incentivise emerged from the race with swelling in a foreleg.

Verry Elleegant, the reigning Australian Horse of the Year, paid $32.70 in American Pools. A 6-year-old New Zealand-bred mare by Zed, has won 15 of 34 starts, but struggled earlier in the current Australian racing season, which began on Aug. 1. Trained by Chris Waller, Verry Elleegant won for the second time in her fifth start of the season in the Melbourne Cup.

On Oct. 2, Verry Elleegant finished fourth behind Incentivise in the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes at 1 1/4 miles at Flemington, a victory that enhanced Incentivise’s status in the buildup to the Melbourne Cup.

Verry Elleegant, owned by a partnership, has won 13 stakes. Earlier this calendar year, she won consecutive Group 1 races in the Chipping Norton Stakes at a mile at Royal Randwick Racecourse in February and the Ranvet Stakes at 1 1/4 miles at Rosehill Gardens in March.

Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup was Verry Elleegant’s second appearance in the race, preceded by a seventh last year.

Waller is well-known as the trainer of Winx, who won 33 consecutive races from 2015-2019. Verry Elleegant was his first winner in the Melbourne Cup.