Punters were left stunned when the Queenslander Knight's Choice and Japanese visitor Warp Speed (JPN) emerged from the pack to fight out a dramatic finish to the $8,560,000 Group 1 Lexus Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington.
Knight's Choice, ridden by Robbie Dolan for John Symons and Sheila Laxon, emerged triumphant.
Among the outsiders of the field, the 5-year-old son of Extreme Choice defeated the 6-year-old Drefong (USA) entire Warp Speed (JPN) by a half-head with back to the 7-year-old Galileo (IRE) entire Okita Soushi three-quarters of a length back in third.
Knight's Choice and Warp Speed (JPN) finished alongside one another in the Caulfield Cup, where Warp Speed (JPN) was 13th and Knight's Choice 14th.
Knight's Choice was a luckless fifth behind Sea King (IRE) in the Group III Bendigo Cup at his most recent start.
Connections rejected an offer of $2.3 million for Knight's Choice, who won the Group III Winx Guineas in 2023 and placed in the Group II HKJC World Pool Q22, Group III Tattersall's Cup and ListedRacing Members' Hcp.
Both first and second excel on good tracks and had conditions to suit at Flemington.
Knight's Choice had his supporters.
Sheila Laxon already booked her place in Melbourne Cup history as the first woman to train the winner with Ethereal in 2001.
"It was just an awesome and amazing ride by Robbie," Laxon said.
"We didn't give him instructions, he just knew what to do.
"Obviously, when you win something like this, it takes a while to register. John is over the moon and the owners are just so thrilled. It's great to be part of it.
"Do you know what's great? I love it being done for the Australians. The Australian horse has done it and Robbie's Australian now as well. So I'm thrilled to win the Cup. It's the People's Cup and that's what it's all about.
"Cameron Bain and the people who raced Midnight Pearl - the mother have 10% as well. So it's just a small group of people. They're just so thrilled and so am I.
"The team has done a brilliant job while we've been away down here at Macedon Lodge. Thanks to everybody at Macedon Lodge and Leigh, Ricky and Mark Player for letting us stay there and Paul Cummings. They've really helped us and everybody's been so good there. It's thanks to a whole heap of people that we've got here today.
"The magic of Macedon. It is an incredible place and I'm so glad that we've done this and been there and trained out of there. So fantastic."
Despite his career high, Robbie Dolan presented as cool, calm and collected.
"It's incredible. I just can't believe it. I don't even know what to say," Dolan said.
"I can't even put it into words. This is the biggest race in the world, and to win it is just incredible. I've got my family here, my partner, Christine, our little baby, Masie. My dad flew over from Ireland, and now you got me in tears.
"I watched every Melbourne cover the last 40 years the other night. I just thought my best chance is if I get him to stay the trip and hopefully he can rattle home and quicken up them, good sectionals that he can do on a good track, and he just proved everybody wrong.
"I've never ridden this race before, so I didn't know what to expect, but I feel like I've ridden it ten times because I've run the race over in my head before I got here. It panned out exactly as I thought it would.
"I thought I'd be a pair closer, but they went quick. I just rode him for luck because I know he's got a good turn of foot. What a training performance."
"There wasn't enough room for me to come outside. So I decided to cut the corner. I heard Kerrin (McEvoy) giving me a call along the inside. I initially would have went for the run that he went for.
"He was going a little bit better than me. Once my horse spotted the gap and he sort of changed leads, and he just sort of picked up on me. 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.
"You can't do it without the trainers like Sheila and John. They were so confident in this horse even before he got to this race and a lot of people doubted them. To be honest, I didn't. I really liked his run the other day at Bendigo. He hit the line really well and was unlucky not to be placed."
Purchased by Michael Kirby/John Symons for $85,000 from the Elswick Park draft at Magic Millions Yearling Sale Book 2, Knight's Choice advances his record to six wins, three seconds, and two thirds from 23 starts with earnings of $5,842,400.
The Melbourne Cup hero was bred by Norm Bazeley of Elswick Park at Walcha. Bazeley bought his mother Midnight Pearl for $1000 at the 2013 Inglis Great Southern Sale.
A seven-time winning daughter of champion sire More Than Ready (USA), Midnight Pearl won one of 18 starts before transferring to John Symons and Sheila Laxon, finally retiring with a record of seven wins and 16 placings from 54 starts with earnings of $107,000.
Despite her admirable track record, Midnight Pearl's purchase price indicates her pedigree is bereft of black type winners for five generations.
Midnight Pearl had not had a foal in three years before foaling a filly by The Autumn Sun on September 23.
The victory is another feather in the cap for Newgate Farm's fertility-challenged Extreme Choice, who chalked up his fourth Group 1 winner. Never tried beyond 1200m, the Group 1 winning son of Not A Single Doubt stands for $275,000.
