90-1 Knight's Choice upsets Australia's Melbourne Cup

A once part-time jockey who flirted with a career as a musician added his name to the Melbourne Cup honor roll when he engineered one of the great upsets in the history of the great race.

Ireland's Robbie Dolan partnered 90-1 chance Knight's Choice to a thrilling win in the US$5.6 million Group 1 race at Flemington in Australia on Tuesday.

Dolan came to Australia in 2016 in search of better opportunities and experienced great success with Profondo and Shelby Sixtysix, who won Group 1 races in 2021 and 2022, before striking national recognition through talent show The Voice.

Dolan's previous biggest moment on the big stage in Victoria was singing "Horses" at the 2022 Cox Plate, but he put that to shame with his Melbourne Cup win.

"Well, pinch me, I think I'm dreaming," he said.

"I've never ridden this race before, so I didn't know what to expect, but I feel like I've ridden it 10 times because I've run the race over in my head before I got here.

"It panned out exactly as I thought it would."

Dolan won the race in front of his partner Christine and young daughter Maisie, along with his father Bobby who spent decades working for two-time Melbourne Cup-winning trainer Dermot Weld in Ireland.

The 28-year-old turned in a ride for the ages to get the John Symons and Sheila Laxon-trained gelding home.

Knight's Choice, a son of Newgate stallion Extreme Choice, settled toward the rear but started to improve towards the inside when a number of leading chances who were also back in the second half of the field made their move out wide from 500 meters.

The 5-year-old surged alongside eventual runner-up Warp Speed, at 25-1, over the final 300 meters and hit the line a half-head clear that Japanese galloper, who was ridden by Akira Sugawara.

Completing a long-shot trifecta, three-quarters-of-a-length away, was Jamie Kah's mount Okita Soushi at 18-1.

"I thought I'd be a pair closer, but they went quick, so I just rode him for luck because I know he's got a good turn of foot," Dolan said.

"Once I pulled the stick through, he found another gear again.

"He's only a small little horse, but he gives his all every start, and that's half the battle with him.

"I think and he's proved a lot of people wrong."

Dolan became the second Irishman to win the Melbourne Cup, 31 years after Michael Kinane won aboard the Weld-trained Vintage Crop.