Robbie Dolan gave Melbourne Cup the kiss of life with his upset win on Knight’s Choice

Robbie Dolan’s win in the Melbourne Cup has breathed life into the famous race and engaged the younger generation of Australian sports lovers.

It was the magic moment the Melbourne Cup became cool again.

Horse racing likes to bang on about how it must do more to engage the younger generation.

It did it by accident last Tuesday, as groovy jockey Robbie Dolan gave the Melbourne Cup the kiss of life when $91 Queensland bolter Knight’s Choice shocked the world.

This was a Melbourne Cup win sprinkled with fairy dust and all of a sudden there are kids and young people all over the country thinking that racing must be pretty cool.

How else to describe Dolan’s triumph?

• EXCLUSIVE: Melbourne Cup winner was given three months to live

Footage of the jockey and part-time musician crooning with fellow Irishman and superstar singer and songwriter Ronan Keating a day after the Cup was beamed all around the globe.

Dolan is a jockey cut from a different cloth.

He left Ireland on a wing and a prayer when he couldn’t make a living as a jockey in his former homeland, turning up in Australia looking for a job.

A few years later he’s a household name.

And best of all, he’s captured the hearts and minds of racing’s next generation as the sport tries to evolve in a landscape where wagering turnover is a concern.

Robbie Dolan shows off the Melbourne Cup after his win with Knight’s Choice. Picture: Getty Images

“I love that lots of kids would have watched my Melbourne Cup win and thought it was pretty cool,” Dolan told The Sunday Mail.

“That’s what the Melbourne Cup is all about, it’s more than racing.

“It brings in a broader and wider audience.

“It brings in people who don’t watch racing day in and day out.

“A lot of kids would have seen my story and thought maybe I want to get into racing, or even be a jockey myself.

“When I was growing up, I remember watching jockeys and thinking ‘Gee, I’d like to do what he has done’.

“I used to admire jockeys who would ride winners all over the world and be as a cool as a cucumber wherever they went.”

• Ride of his life: A day when Dolan couldn’t lose

Speaking of kids, little Maisie was a special part of her father’s Cup triumph.

Dolan’s two-year-old daughter, who was born 15 weeks premature and spent 110 days in a neonatal intensive care unit before finally being allowed home, is much more of a fan of The Wiggles than the Melbourne Cup.

Dolan on stage with Irish superstar singer Ronan Keating. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

But it was a fabulous moment for not only the Dolan family, but for the world to see, when Maisie and her proud Mum Christine Duffy lapped up every second of the incredible Cup win.

Dolan’s dad Bobby, who The Courier-Mail revealed had jetted in from Ireland to surprise his son before his first Melbourne Cup ride, was also as proud as punch.

Robbie and Bobbie took any stress out of the Cup build-up – not that there probably was much considering Robbie was on a $91 chance – by heading out to Nudgee and watching the final round of the Queensland PGA Golf Championship.

• Right choices lead to fairytale Melbourne Cup win

After the Cup win it was a head-spinning few days, including singing with Keating and then returning to Queensland to ride in scorching 38 degree heat at Ipswich on Thursday.

Television cameras – who often have little interest in horse racing – followed Dolan’s every move to the point where even the no-fuss jockey said he felt a bit like a celebrity.

Perhaps it was just as well he had engaged a media manager, as this is likely to be more than just 15 minutes of fame.

The co-trainer of Knight’s Choice, Sheila Laxon, knows what it is like to win a Melbourne Cup having famously scored the Caulfield and Melbourne Cup double with Ethereal in 2001.

Dolan celebrates with partner Christine Duffy, daughter Maisie and dad Boddy. Picture: Josh Chadwick/Getty Images

Robbie Dolan is embraced by his dad. Picture: Reg Ryan/Racing Photos via Getty Images

But this was new territory and Laxon delighted in how the Cup win had captivated the younger generation of sports lovers.

“The whole story is coated in fairy dust,” Laxon said.

“I think it has injected lifeblood back into the Melbourne Cup.

“Can you believe Robbie Dolan was singing with Ronan Keating a day after winning the Melbourne Cup?

“That’s just fantastic and young people would gravitate towards that and love the story.

“Racing can be so romantic and this win was exactly what this race needed.

“I honestly didn’t realise that Robbie had struggled riding in Europe, I have always felt he is such a sublime jockey.

“His ride in the Melbourne Cup was 120 out of 100.

“I ended up watching the race on my own, standing on the steps at Flemington by myself.

“When they came past and Knight’s Choice was running on, I thought, ‘Thank goodness he is going to run in first 12’, then he was going better and better and I thought ‘sh-t he is going to win’.”

Laxon is spot on – this is exactly what the Melbourne Cup needed.

Imagine if some fly-in, fly-out jockey from Europe had won or some overseas trainer had grabbed the spoils.

This is just so, so much better.

The Melbourne Cup is back in business.

Originally published as Robbie Dolan gave Melbourne Cup the kiss of life with his upset win on Knight’s Choice