BROWNIE'S BLOG: LOOKING BACK AT A TREMENDOUS MELBOURNE CUP CARNIVAL

By Damian Browne | Wednesday, November 12, 2025

Multiple Group 1 winning jockey Damian Browne might be retired from race riding, but his passion for racing still remains and he now gives back to the industry, offering invaluable mentorship to young apprentices wise enough to take on board his advice. Beyond that, Browne is as insightful as ever when offering his opinion on racing matters, with his knowledge gained from so many years in the saddle leaving him ideally placed to give an informed commentary on many aspects of the game. This is Brownie’s Blog, a blog which is exclusive to HRO.

The Melbourne Cup Carnival produced a really good week of racing … the track played well all week as well … although it was probably a little bit of a shame the last day with the weather.

That adverse weather was probably due by the second Saturday. They expected it to be worse during the week, but there were some beautiful days though, so they probably got lucky there.
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It goes without saying that Jamie Melham winning on Half Yours was the highlight of the week. Her ride was outstanding … that was a nice tight gap she took. It reminded me a bit of the Glen Boss and Makybe Diva days and those three beautiful rides.

I won’t say Jamie’s ride won the race … the horse’s effort was outstanding … but it was the best ride in the race.
Half Yours has just gone on since he came up to Queensland and won the Caloundra Cup … and all of his runs this time in had looked like he was on target.
His team did a fantastic job with him.
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Quite often at most carnivals you’ll get one rider that dominates all of the way through, as happened at this carnival with Mark Zahra’s riding over the whole carnival being quite outstanding. His eight winners earned him the Ron Hutchinson Award as the Carnival's leading rider.

Two of his biggest wins … in the Coolmore with Tentyris and in the Victoria Derby with Observer … came with Zahra saluting in the famous royal blue racing silks of Godolphin, with the global racing powerhouse in the process also putting themselves on the Melbourne Cup Carnival highlight reel.
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Like I said, a jockey can end up dominating a carnival … and in the same vein, there are always horses that just take those leaps and bounds from where they were prior to the carnival. They emerge during carnival time and then go on to bigger and better things in the new year.

Strictly Business, who won the Oaks, has been that horse this year.

You’ve got to go alright to be there in the first place, but fulfilling potential is what you look for and, if you know your horse can gallop, you want him to bring his best during Cup week and Strictly Business, who only won his maiden a couple of weeks before, certainly did that.

Given that timeframe, huge credit must go to Strictly Business’ trainer Thomas Carberry and jockey John Allen for a rare achievement.
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Via Sistina … well, what more can you say about the sixteen-time winner who is closing in on $20 million in prize-money after making it back-to-back wins in both the Cox Plate and the Champion Stakes in her last two starts.

She just keeps on delivering.

I don’t think she was as dominant as last year … but then she didn’t need to be.

The Cox Plate win was still good and so was the Champion Stakes win, particular on the soft underfoot conditions.

This was a landmark win for the Chris Waller / James McDonald combination who shared their fiftieth Group 1 win together.
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Those soft conditions didn’t suit Pride Of Jenni last Saturday, but it would be remiss of me not to give her a tip of the hat to her following her stunning performance in the Empire Rose on the opening day of the Carnival.

She failed before in the soft conditions and her wheels just spun because of the footing in the ground on Saturday, but her win before that was spectacular, as it has been before when she gets conditions to suit.

You can imagine what it must be like riding against her when she is on-song. It’s not easy,

Essentially, it comes down to the versatility of your horse and where it is in its preparation really. If they are rock hard fit, you may be able to make a couple of runs … or you would probably go after her a little earlier.

Obviously, if you are on a horse that can’t do that, you can’t do that and you just hope somebody else does … but, at best, Pride Of Jenni does set up a great spectacle, and it makes the jockeys think a bit.

It’s exciting watching her … and it quite a ballsy thing to do to take off like that, but Declan (Bates) has great rapport with the horse and he has done that a few times now.

Other people have ridden her and not been able to do that.
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And just how good were the finishes in the Champions Sprint between Giga Kick and Magic Night and Ceolwulf and Pericles in the Champions’ Mile.

All of these four horses turned in great performances, but the winners of those two races deserve special mention.

Giga Kick, as we all know, has had his problems and everybody was wondering whether he was going to get back to that form that saw him win The Everest and probably be the dominant sprinter in the country a couple of years ago, but he is back on the right path now and it was great to see him winning. He got home last Saturday under another great ride by Mark Zahra.

Ceolwulf … well, if Joe Pride starts talking about him as the best horse he has trained, it does get your attention.

He could not have been more brave racing at tight quarters with Pericles going to the line but, as fine as that result was, the race did raise an old chestnut of mine … the whip rule!
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Chad Schofield, the winning rider aboard Ceolwulf, was fined $35 000 and suspended for eleven race meeting after pleading guilty to excessive use of the whip. He used the whip nine times before the 100m, four times more than permitted.

He also pleaded guilty to a charge of careless riding when he took up Pericles’ rightful running at the 1400m for which his licence was suspended for eighteen meeting … but that is another story.

The winning margin was 0.06 lengths.

This type of whip rule controversy is never going to go away until the rule is more firmly applied … ie. when it impacts on the race result.

I know there are arguments both ways, but I still believe that rules are rules and if you have got to break the rules to win there should be consequences … not just for the rider.

If riders know they are going to lose the race if they break this rule, chances are they just won’t do it … but that preferred situation continues to seem a long way away.

The industry talks about looking after the punters, and this situation is obviously not fair on the punters who were on the second horse. Once the margin gets down to half a length and less, there is clearly an argument to be made that the whip has made a difference.

There should be something in place that if the margin is small and you’ve blatantly breached the rule … then you are out! And you can’t complain to anybody because everybody would know the rules.

You have got to take away the grey area otherwise some jockeys, particularly in big races, will continue to push the boundaries as they do now.
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Leaving that behind, the bottom line though is that, as stated at the outset, the Melbourne Cup Carnival produced a really good week of racing with the quality of our top riders and horses shining through in an ultra-competitive four days of racing.

It was racing on centre stage.

I thoroughly enjoyed it!

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