Run The Numbers – The kings and queens of the Melbourne Cup carnival

While the number of stallions standing in Australia continues to reduce, the diversity of those represented on the biggest racing stages remains strong. Across 37 individual winners on the four days at Flemington – Victoria Derby day, Melbourne Cup day, VRC Oaks day and Champions day – there were 34 different sires represented, compared to 33 last year.

The story of St Jean, the sire of Melbourne Cup winner Half Yours, has been well told over the past week, but there were three sires who produced multiple Cup week winners.

Street Boss secured an 11th Group 1 winner with Coolmore Stud Stakes winner Tentyris and then added a first stakes winner of his latest Australia crop when Calamari Ring won the Listed Inglis Banner. He now has a stakes winner from all 13 of his Australian crops, a tribute to his consistency.

His Darley barnmate Ghaiyyath enjoyed a breakout week, with Observer winning the Victoria Derby, while Different Gravy was exactly that in claiming the Listed TAB Trophy over 1800m on Cup day. The son of Dubawi now has four stakes winners from just 32 runners in Australia.

The third sire with multiple Flemington successes was Manhattan Rain, the now Geisel Park Stud resident, who had spells at Arrowfield and Blue Gum Stud before heading to Western Australia. New York Lustre won the Group 3 Begonia Belle Stakes, while Sabaj impressed with a win over 1600m on the final day of the carnival.

In terms of the most successful studs, seven of the 37 races were won by the progeny of Darley sires. There were six from Coolmore and three from Arrowfield.

The diversity theme travelled back to broodmare sires as well, of which there were 30 individual sires represented. Exceed And Excel had three individual winners, Tentyris, Pallaton and Calamari Ring.

Damsires with two winners were Testa Rossa, Lonhro, O’Reilly, Shamardal and Uncle Mo.

In terms of individual breeders, Godolphin had four winners, including two Group 1 winners, Observer and Tentyris, as well as Burma Star and overseas-bred Sunset Park.

Rosemont Stud also had a big week, having bred Tornado Star, Dance To the Boom and Guerite. Aside from those two, there was no other individual breeder who had more than one winner, meaning 33 different breeders had success at Flemington across the 37 races.

Of the 17 horses offered through an Australasian sales ring, six came through the Magic Millions Gold Coast Sale and six came through either Inglis Premier, Classic or Easter Sales. At least four of them had either part, or whole shares sold through Inglis Digital, including, most famously, the Cup winner Half Yours.

The average price of those horses sold either through an Australasian yearling, weanling or two-year-old sale was just under $300,000. Rosemont Stud was the only vendor to feature more than once.

Moving on to the most successful trainer and Ciaron Maher enjoyed a big week with five winners, including two Group 1 wins. Chris Waller had three, including one Group 1 winner, as did Anthony and Sam Freedman.

Those with two were Bjorn Baker, Danny O’Brien and Lindsey Smith. Overall, 26 different stables had winners across the four days.

There were 20 individual jockeys who were successful, led by Mark Zahra, whose week included eight winners, including three Group 1s. Jamie Melham had three, including the Melbourne Cup, while James McDonald, who didn’t ride on Derby day, also had three as did Damien Lane.

Ethan Brown, Tommy Berry and John Allen had two winners apiece.

Last year, there were 23 different trainers and 19 different jockeys.   

Leaders across the Melbourne Cup carnival

Category	Winner	Wins
Leading Jockey	Mark Zahra	8
Leading Trainer	Ciaron Maher	5
Leading Sire	Street Boss, Ghaiyyath, Manhattan Rain	2
Leading Damsire	Exceed And Excel	3
Leading Breeder	Godolphin	4
Leading Vendor	Rosemont Stud	2