Twilight Payment wins Melbourne Cup for Joseph O'Brien; Anthony Van Dyck euthanized

Twilight Payment, who raced earlier this year with mixed results in Saudi Arabia and Ireland, led throughout Tuesday’s Group 1 Melbourne Cup to record a surprise win in Australia’s most famous race.

Ridden by Jye McNeil for Irish trainer Joseph O’Brien, Twilight Payment ($58.70 in American pools) was fully extended in the final sixteenth of the two-mile race to prevail by a half-length over 4-1 favorite Tiger Moth, trained by Joseph O’Brien’s father, Aidan.

Prince of Arran (9-1) closed well to finish a head behind Tiger Moth. The first three finishers are trained by Europeans. Charlie Fellowes, who trains Prince of Arran, is based in England.

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Sadly, the race was marred by a fatal fetlock injury suffered by Anthony Van Dyck, the winner of the 2019 English Derby. Anthony Van Dyck was racing in midfield when he was pulled up with a quarter-mile remaining.

Twilight Payment, a 7-year-old Irish-bred gelding by Teofilo, gave O’Brien his second Melbourne Cup win and gave co-owner Lloyd Williams his seventh. McNeil won the race for the first time on Tuesday. O’Brien and Williams teamed to win the race in 2017 with Rekindling.

Twilight Payment is the sixth European-based horse to win the Melbourne Cup in the last 11 years.

Tiger Moth was ridden by Kerrin McEvoy, who was fined $35,250 and suspended for 13 racing days for excessive use of the whip. Prince of Arran was third in the 2018 Melbourne Cup and second by a neck last year to Vow and Declare, who finished 18th of 23 this year.

McNeil, riding in the Melbourne Cup for the first time, had Twilight Payment in front shortly after the start and did not face a significant challenge until the stretch.

Twilight Payment was 11th in the 2019 Melbourne Cup, finishing only 3 3/4 lengths behind Vow and Declare. Earlier this year, Twilight Payment finished seventh in the Longines Turf Handicap in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Feb. 29.

In Ireland in the summer, Twilight Payment won consecutive stakes at 1 3/4 miles at the Curragh – the Group 3 Vintage Crop Stakes on June 27 and the Group 2 Curragh Cup on July 18. In his final start before being sent to Australia, Twilight Payment finished third by 2 1/4 lengths behind Search For A Song in the Group 1 Irish St. Leger at the Curragh on Sept. 13.