Melbourne Cup 2021: Brutal photos show Melbourne Cup truth

A Melbourne Cup runner was accused of making one of the biggest blunders in the history of the race. These photos show the ugly truth.

Verry Elleegant has won the Melbourne Cup in a massive boilover.

It was a famous day in Australian racing with the 160-year Barrier 18 curse finally coming to an end.

It had been the only barrier in the great weight-for-age race to never produce a winner — until now.

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Verry Elleegant’s run from the barrier gives trainer Chris Waller and jockey James McDonald their first ever Melbourne Cup victories.

The moment James McDonald and Verry Elleegant made history. Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images.

McDonald piloted the six-year-old mare to a perfect position before she exploded down the final straight to blow the field away.

“I can’t believe what’s just happened,” an emotional McDonald said after the race.

“I never thought I would ever win one, you know. I always dreamed of winning one, but it’s so hard to win.”

It’s supposed to be the hardest event to win in Australian racing, but there were brutal signs at the finishing post that Verry Elleegant did it easy.

She looked unbeatable against some of the greatest distance runners on the planet — and made them look average while doing it — hitting the line five lengths clear of red hot favourite Incentivise.

But it is only looking at the tail end of the field that her run can be properly appreciated.

Photos show exactly how clearly the field was smashed with last-placed Ocean Billy and 22nd-placed finisher Johnny Get Angry appearing to have half the straight still to run when McDonald had started celebrating.

Verry Elleegant was in a field of her own. Jay Town/Racing Photos via Getty Images.

Verry Elleegant demolished them. Photo: Getty, Twitter, @racing.com.

Despite the 2021 Cup field missing some of the class that the army of foreign raiders normally brings, there can be no denying that Verry Elleegant’s annihilation of the rest of the field was about her — and not the quality of the field behind her.

Cup commentators were in full admiration of Very Elleegant and runner-up Incentivise.

Incentivise has launched from before the turn and still managed to kick and run 2nd with some horses finishing in a different postcode behind him. Huuuuuuge run. If not for VE, we’d be talking about one of the best wins in a long time.

— Rory Flanagan (@Rory_Flanagan) November 2, 2021

A champion. #VerryElleegant Superb performance. So, too, the favourite Incentivise. #MelbourneCup

— Courtney Walsh (@walshcee) November 2, 2021

Incentivise has run out of his skin, he has jumped bumped into Verry Elleegant at her absolute best. Great race to watch. Spanish Mission/Floating Artist brave. Happy to admit I’m wrong re Verry Elleegant. Well done to J Mac and C Waller. She’s a champion as is rider and trainer

— brad davidson (@braddavo) November 2, 2021

It is an astonishing 10th Group 1 career victory for the Kiwi horse. The connections of the mare are now celebrating a staggering $4.4 million payday and trophies worth a combined $250,000.

The race unfolded with a series of dramatic shuffles at the front of the field.

Incentivise was six-deep as they crossed the post for the first time, but soon pushed up into second Persan.

Incentivise was in front as they turned onto the straight, but Verry Elleegant was positioned perfectly to make her run past the grandstand and shot ahead of the race favourite with more than 300m to run.

Incentivise finished a very distant second with Verry Elleegant humiliating the rest of the field as she left them in her wake.

Spanish Mission finished third, with Floating Artist fourth.

There was criticism before the race that Incentivise had committed a huge blunder in its preparation for the Cup with three recent wins resulting in the horse being given a 57kg handicap penalty.

Racing personality Lloyd Williams, who has the record with seven Melbourne Cup wins as an owner, said the connections of Incentivise made a mistake in running the gelding in the Makybe Diva Stakes — a race win which came with a $600,000 prize, but a serious hit from the handicappers.

“The big thing about him, with great respect to them (connections), I think they handled him very badly running him in the Craiglee (Makybe Diva Stakes) and getting his weight up too soon,” Williams said, according to punters.com.au.

“They could have run him in a 1700m race that day and he wouldn’t be carrying the weight he’s carrying, he’d probably have 55.5kg or 55kg. He’s 2.5kg under the scale at 57kg, it’s a serious weight for two miles.”

The racing world will never know if those added kilos stopped Incentivise from challenging Verry Elleegant.

However, the photos from the post show Incentivise still ran a magnificent race. It was just a day when it all came together for rival Verry Elleegant.

Verry Elleegant blew them away. Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images.

Incentivise jumped as one of the shortest-priced favourites in the history of the race ($2.80) and had briefly been the shortest-priced runner in the Melbourne Cup since legend Phar Lap 91 years ago.

Only 10 previous runners had ever started the famous race with a price less than $3.

But the day belonged to Verry Elleegant, who was a $16 chance with bookmakers at the start of the day.

The champion horse is the first mare to win the Cup since Makybe Diva in 2005, having carried the most weight (57kg) in a victorious Melbourne Cup run since Makybe Diva 16 years ago.

You can read all the results and finishing order for every race at Flemington on Cup Day here.

2021 Melbourne Cup final finishing order

1st — Verry Elleegant

2nd — Incentivise

3rd — Spanish Mission

4th — Floating Artist

5th — The Chosen One

Melbourne Cup 2021 field (horse, weight, trainer, jockey

1 – TWILIGHT PAYMENT: 58kg, Joseph O’Brien, Jye McNeil

Barrier: 2

2 – INCENTIVISE: 57kg, Peter G Moody, Brett Prebble

Barrier: 16

3 – SPANISH MISSION: 57kg, Andrew Balding, Craig Williams

Barrier: 14

4 – VERRY ELLEEGANT: 57kg, Chris Waller, James McDonald

Barrier: 19

5 – EXPLOSIVE JACK: 54kg, Ciaron Maher & David Eustace, John Allen

Barrier: 4

6 – THE CHOSEN ONE: 54kg, Murray Baker & Andrew Forsman, Damian Lane

Barrier: 5

7 – DELPHI: 53.5kg, Anthony & Sam Freedman, Damien Oliver

Barrier: 3

8 – OCEAN BILLY: 53.5kg, Chris Waller, Damien Thornton

Barrier: 13

9 – SELINO: 53.5kg, Chris Waller, Ron Stewart

Barrier: 24

10 – JOHNNY GET ANGRY: 53kg, Denis Pagan, Lachlan King

Barrier: 22

11 – KNIGHTS ORDER: 53kg, Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott, Daniel Stackhouse

Barrier: 9

12 – PERSAN: 53kg, Ciaron Maher & David Eustace, Luke Currie

Barrier: 11

Can Twilight Payment go back to back? Picture: Natasha Morello/Racing Photos via Getty Images

13 – CARIF: 52.5kg, Peter & Paul Snowden, Blaike McDougall

Barrier: 8

14 – MASTER OF WINE: 52.5kg, Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes, Fred Kersley

Barrier: 6

15 – PONDUS: 52.5kg, Robert Hickmott, Rachel King

Barrier: 1

16 – GRAND PROMENADE: 52kg, Ciaron Maher & David Eustace, Kerrin McEvoy

Barrier: 21

17 – MIAMI BOUND: 52kg, Danny O’Brien, Patrick Moloney

Barrier: 17

18 – PORT GUILLAUME: 52kg, Ben & JD Hayes, Harry Coffey

Barrier: 23

19 – SHE’S IDEEL: 52kg, Bjorn Baker, Craig Newitt

Barrier: 20

20 – FUTURE SCORE: SCRATCHED

21 – TRALEE ROSE: 51kg, Symon Wilde, Dean Holland

Barrier: 12

22 - FLOATING ARTIST: 50kg, Ciaron Maher & David Eustace, Teo Nugent

Barrier: 10

23 – GREAT HOUSE: 50kg, Chris Waller, Teo Nugent, Michael Dee

Barrier: 7

24 – SIR LUCAN: 50kg, Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott, Glen Boss

Barrier: 18

Originally published as Melbourne Cup 2021: Brutal photos show Melbourne Cup truth