Why Verry Elleegant's win is a trifecta for three of the most famous names in Australian racing: The best jockey, the best trainer... and the now the best mare
- Champion six-year-old mare Verry Elleegant has won 10 races at Group 1 level
- The horse gave hugely successful trainer Chris Waller his first Melbourne Cup
- It was also a first Melbourne Cup win for all-conquering jockey James McDonald
Verry Elleegant's emphatic Melbourne Cup win brought together the best racehorse, jockey and trainer in the country for a series of first-time victories.
The Cup is a breakthrough in the nation's most famous race for New Zealand-born horseman Chris Waller and his countryman James McDonald, the all-conquering hoop.
A tenth win at Group 1 level on top of last year's Caulfield Cup is also the biggest honour for the reigning Australian Racehorse of the Year.
Verry Elleegant had won nearly $10million before taking out the Melbourne Cup over short-priced favourite Incentivise, adding $4.4million to her prizemoney.
Verry Elleegant's Melbourne Cup win brought together the best horse, jockey and trainer in the land for a series of first-time victories. New Zealand-born trainer Chris Waller is pictured with his wife Steph
Jockey James McDonald has had plenty of success on Verry Elleegant in the past 18 months and is credited along with Waller with turning her into a true racing machine
That's from a six-year-old mare whose mother was bought for just $10,000 and father had only a $500 service fee.
Tuesday's four-length win carrying 57kg should end debate about whether Verry Elleegant belongs in the champion category.
'If she can win, it propels her to legend status and it would stop any discussions about how good she is and where she sits,' McDonald said of the $16.50 chance in the lead-up to the race.
McDonald has had plenty of success on Verry Elleegant in the past 18 months and is credited along with Waller with turning her into a true racing machine.
'It's been a long journey and it would be the icing on the cake for her to win the biggest race of the year,' the man known as J-Mac told The Age.
Hobby breeder Don Goodwin, 83, is another New Zealander and named the foal after his granddaughter Ellee.
'I played around with it and invented Verry Elleegant,' Goodwin has said. 'I named her older brother Verry Flash and put two rs in his name to make it look different.'
McDonald has had plenty of success on Verry Elleegant in the past 18 months and is credited along with Waller with turning her into a true racing machine. McDonald's partner Katelyn Mallyon is pictured right after his Melbourne Cup win
'If she can win, it propels her to legend status and it would stop any discussions about how good she is and where she sits,' McDonald said in the lead-up to the race. He is pictured with the Melbourne Cup after Verry Elleegant's win
McDonald's first Melbourne Cup takes the 29-year-old's Group 1 tally of major race wins to 57 and 48-year-old Waller's to 129.
The jockey's best previous performances in the Cup had been a second on Fiorente in 2012 and third on Hartnell in 2016.
Waller decided only on Saturday to run Verry Elleegant in the Cup, aiming to improve on her performance storming home into seventh in the race without McDonald aboard last year.
McDonald, who had been set to partner UK horse Away He Goes before it was scratched, only got the ride at the last minute.
The trainer who guided Winx to four Cox Plates and has won the past 11 Sydney trainers' premierships did not witness the Flemington race in person, watching it in Sydney on television.
Waller decided only on Saturday to run Verry Elleegant in the Cup, aiming to improve on her performance of storming home into seventh in the race without McDonald aboard last year. Waller is pictured with wife Steph
The dairy farmer's son was overwhelmed by the result, which left him in tears.
'It hasn't sunk in,' Waller told Nine newspapers. 'I was just at home with my wife and kids.
'It's probably as good as it gets. The kids were pretty excited, they were more excited than me.'
Waller had already declared Verry Elleegant a champion after her George Main Stakes win at Randwick in September.
'Verry Elleegant deserves to be called a champion,' Waller said. 'I waited until Winx won her second Cox Plate to call her a champion and the time is right to give Verry Elleegant that honour.'
'She has now won a Group One race every season since she was a three-year-old, she has won Group One races from 1400m to 2400m, at weight-for-age and handicaps, on all tracks. Yes, she is a champion.'
McDonald predicted Verry Elleegant was his best chance yet of taking out the race in his newspaper column on Monday
Australia's biggest trainer had three other runners in the race: Selino (eighth), Great House (thirteenth) and Ocean Billy (last).
McDonald predicted Verry Elleegant was his best chance yet of taking out the race in his newspaper column on Monday.
'Dead set, whether she's a Melbourne Cup winner or not, she's going to run so well it's not funny,' he wrote. 'Seriously, I haven't felt her work as good. I'm telling you, she is going great.
'It's going to be the toughest task she's faced in her life but she loves a fight and the odds against her.'
After the race McDonald told Channel 10: 'I love her to bits. 'She's been so good to me. They can safely say she's a champion now.'
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