‘I met her, got a photo … now we’ve got a Melbourne Cup!’: The P&O cruise that paved the way to victory
A Melbourne Cup P&O cruise a few years ago provided the extraordinary backdrop for a meeting that will now go down in the race’s long and storied history.
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A Melbourne Cup P&O cruise a few years ago provided the extraordinary backdrop for a meeting that will now go down in the race’s long and storied history.
Jockey-turned-singer Robbie Dolan reckons there should be a movie script out of it.
Dolan, who appeared on The Voice in 2022, was employed to do some crooning on the Cup-theme cruise.
Sheila Laxon, who famously trained Ethereal to win the Caulfield-Melbourne Cups double in 2001, was on the ship too.
Sensing an opportunity, Robbie asked if he could get a photo with her, and she obliged.
Fast forward to Tuesday and Dolan and Laxon, along with the trainer’s work and life partner John Symons, combined to cause one of the biggest boilovers in recent Cup history with gritty stayer Knight’s Choice scoring an emotional victory at $81.
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Dolan couldn’t help but recall their chance meeting on the water in the immediate aftermath of a thrilling Melbourne Cup victory, with Knight’s Choice winning by a half-head from Japanese raider Warp Speed.
“I was singing on the Melbourne Cup cruise and Sheila was there with the Melbourne Cup,” Dolan said. “I met her and got a photo with her.
“Now we have won the freaking Melbourne Cup. It has got to be a movie … surely.”
Laxon agreed, with a beaming smile, insisting that she still had the photo of them at home.
Dolan, the Irish-born jockey who came out to Australia eight years ago, seeking to expand his opportunities and to mature as a person, is now forever etched into the Cup’s rich tapestry.
He was celebrating on Tuesday night with partner Christine, his two-year-old daughter Maisie, and his father Bobby, who flew out from Ireland for the Cup.
“I was young and immature and I probably needed to go somewhere to expand my experience,” he said.
“I planned on coming for one year and I’ve been here for eight and now I’ve won a Melbourne Cup. I probably don’t see myself going home anytime soon.
“If you’re willing to work hard, you’ll be rewarded and that’s one thing I always taught since I was young.”
Dolan briefly considered giving up the saddle for singing, especially after doing so well on reality TV show The Voice.
But his passion for riding was always going to win out.
• Dolan in full voice on Melbourne Cup stage
“I could’ve easily given up riding to do the music but I loved it too much,” he said.
“I never sat on a horse until I was 16 or 17, but (it was) always in my background.
“I’d been grafting (as a jockey) for 10 years before that. I was struggling to get a few rides and at one stage I thought I might as well do music on the side.
“But I missed riding winners, I missed the camaraderie with the jockeys in the room. I was never going to give it up.
“It’s in my blood to be a jockey and here we are.”
$100 into $3.2 million: Punter’s remarkable Cup win
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Dolan won on two fronts … he won the Cup, and it was made all the more special by having his father – who once worked for Dermot Weld – in town for the race.
“I woke up on Sunday morning, and he was in my kitchen,” Dolan said. “I said to my partner, it’s a good thing I didn’t come down naked.
“Christine, my partner, flew him over and it is just crazy that he was here.”
Originally published as ‘I met her, got a photo … now we’ve got a Melbourne Cup!’: The P&O cruise that paved the way to victory
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