Six Richmond players revealed as part owners of Melbourne Cup 2023 favourite Soulcombe

Premiership into a Melbourne Cup? Six Richmond players have reason to dream big after the horse they part own stormed to favouritism for the 2023 edition of the great race.

Mark Zahra high gives the Flemington crowd after winning the Melbourne Cup with Gold Trip. Picture: Quinn Rooney-Getty Images

Six Richmond premiership heroes including Jack Riewoldt are dreaming of winning next year’s Melbourne Cup after Soulcombe - the import they part own - stormed home to win the Group 3 Queen’s Cup in his start in Australia at Flemington on Saturday.

Riewoldt, Nathan Broad, Liam Baker, Jack Graham, Tom Lynch and Jayden Short form part of the Punt Road End syndicate in the Chris Waller-trained gelding, which is now an equal $15 favourite for next year’s Cup.

While Lynch was away on holidays and Short was at a wedding on Saturday, the other four Tigers were on track to see the son of Frankel - who is considered a four-year-old in Australia but is only a three-year-old in Northern Hemisphere time - put in a massive audition for next year’s Cup.

“It opened up as favourite in the (2023) Melbourne Cup, which was a big shock and hopefully we can get it there and have some luck,” Broad said after Soulcombe ($3) saluted from Luncies ($5.50) and Captain Envious ($17).

Jack Riewoldt (pictured back) and Soulcombe’s connections celebrate.

Baker said the Punt Road End syndicate had five horses and Soulcombe had provided him with his first winner, saying the thrill wasn’t that far off the success they had achieved on the football field.

“It’s a massive thrill,” Baker said. “It’s got to be right up there.”

Prominent owner John O’Neill is a massive Richmond supporter and helped to organise the horses for the Tigers to become involved in.

“We’re rapt to be involved in a horse like this with Johnny (O’Neill) and Ozzie (Kheir),” Baker said. “Johnny said it was a good horse and he lived up to expectations today.”

“That’s how they said they would ride it. They said it should be good enough down the straight, and that’s what happened.”

Soulcombe is listed as a $15 favourite alongside Gai Waterhouse’s White Marlin - an impressive winner of the Macca’s Run on Tuesday — with Waller suggesting the horse had a nice future next year.

Craig Williams with Soulcombe (GB) post-race.

CUP JOCKEY’S EPIC CELEBRATIONS REVEALED

Jon Anderson

Standing 178cm and riding no lighter than 55kg had always limited Mark Zahra’s hopes of winning a Melbourne Cup.

Zahra admitted to being “haunted” after watching Verry Elleegant win last year’s Cup given he had won the Caulfield Cup on her a year earlier and could well have been in the saddle. All is now forgotten after his brilliant Cup win on Gold Trip last Tuesday.

JON ANDERSON: What happens after you win the Cup in terms of celebration?

MARK ZAHRA: We went to The Flower Drum with some owners that night and then off to The Osborne where to be honest I got absolutely driven mad. So I went for a quiet drink with another owner at The Atlantic. Problem was some of my mates had come to meet me at The Osborne. They rang and said, “What, are you too good for us now you’ve won the Cup?” (laughter).

JA: That sounds more taxing then the actual race?

MZ: Hang on, then there was Wednesday which was Nobu for lunch and then France Soir. When there was cognac poured in the Cup I knew it was time to go.

JA: That’s a hell of a long way removed from 12 months ago?

MZ: I had hoped I was going to ride Verry Elleegant in the Melbourne and I thought that as my chance to win it and I stuffed it up. That has haunted me. And I haven’t had a lot of Cup rides because of my weight (56kg), which means there are usually only about two horses in my range.

Mark Zahra lets his emotions spill in the mounting yard. Picture: Reg Ryan-Racing Photos via Getty Images

JA: How was your weight after the celebrations?

MZ: When I woke up next to my wife on Oaks morning I was 59kg. She was hungover and working out how to get up and face the day, let alone go to a sauna to ride three horses at 56kg that day.

JA: Has the weight ever got to you?

MZ: I have wanted to give it away 100 times but having been more successful over the past 10 years has helped, plus I pick and choose, riding less, riding heavier and taking longer holidays. So maybe I will ride until my late 40s.

JA: How confident were you that Gold Trip would win?

MZ: I wasn’t really confident about him winning because I wasn’t sure he would run two miles. Mark Hunter helps me with the form and he said, “for him to get the distance, you will have to do no work early”. Because I thought he wouldn’t stay, I rode him so quiet and maybe that was the winning move.

JA: But you had almost won the Caulfield Cup, albeit over 2400m and not 3200m.

MZ: After the Caulfield Cup I thought there was one thing I could have done, which was to use the whip in my left hand. I needed a switch in the program.

Mark Zahra and his wife celebrated the Cup win over two nights. Picture: Jay Town-Racing Photos via Getty Images

JA: Does one moment stand out?

MZ: Coming back to scale and seeing a sea of people cheering will stay with me forever. And you have that moment where you think, “Sh-t, I’m a Melbourne Cup-winning jockey”.

JA: How did you get the ride?

MZ: Two of the owners in Barry Taylor and Steve Pellegrino were in a horse named Merchant Navy that I won on in the Coolmore, so they are very loyal to me.

JA: Given that Coolmore win increased Merchant Navy’s value by around $20 million, I understand their loyalty.

Originally published as Six Richmond players revealed as part owners of Melbourne Cup 2023 favourite Soulcombe