Smurfit delight as Weld Puzzles Aussies again
On the other end of the line was the gelding's part owner, Michael Smurfit. He was calling from Spain.
“He was having a few quiet drinks with some friends,” Weld said. “He seemed pretty happy with himself. He enjoys winning.”
Media Puzzle’s stunning Melbourne Cup performance gave Smurfit his second win in Australia’s staying classic. Nine years ago, Smurfit and Weld claimed their first slice of cup history when champion stayer Vintage Crop won the famous grind. It was the first time a Northern Hemisphere-trained horse had taken Australia’s most famous cup home.
Smurfit’s racing manager, Dermot Cantillon, said his boss had always wanted to win the race again. Chasing his dream, Smurfit enticed friend and fellow businessman Don Keogh, a former president of Coca-Cola, to buy Media Puzzle at the conclusion of its three-year-old season.
“The horse always had potential,” Cantillon said yesterday. “The Melbourne Cup was always in the back of Michael and Dermot’s mind.
“We thought long and hard about bringing him down here because he had just run third in a handicap at The Curragh. It’s always a gamble bringing horses down here.
“You don’t know how they will travel, how they will adapt. In the end it was a brave decision by Michael to bring him down, and he should be applauded for that.
“It is a hard thing to come down here to win the Melbourne Cup, the records show that, but Michael had faith in the horse and he encouraged Dermot to bring him down.”
They got the ultimate reward when Media Puzzle stormed down the straight to claim the cup in style with a two-length success over Mr Prudent (40-1) with Godolphin’s Beekeeper (8-1) a long neck away third..
And to cap a magnificent day for Weld his second runner Vinnie Roe, the 9-2 favourite, defied top weight to finish a creditable fourth. However, it was a bitter-sweet success for Oliver, coming just a week after the death of his brother Jason who died after a riding accident on the gallops in Perth.
Weld also spoke of the moment he announced to the world that Media Puzzle would win Australia’s greatest race: ‘‘when he finished fourth in the St Leger at Doncaster two years ago, I turned round to Mike Dillon of Ladbrokes and said this horse will be my next Melbourne Cup winner.”
At the post-race press conference Weld was seated directly opposite a portrait of Vintage Crop and thought back to a statement he made immediately after the famous gelding’s last appearance at Flemington six years ago.
‘‘I said I wouldn’t come back unless I had the horse to win it. Today I had. These are the things you dream about.’’
