Melbourne Cup champ Robbie Dolan craving Group 1 success in Queensland
Irish jockey Robbie Dolan has won one of Australia’s biggest Group 1s but tells why it is important for him to win a big race in Queensland.
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Melbourne Cup champion Robbie Dolan says he’s hungry to jag his first Group 1 victory in Queensland as he prepares to ride Knight’s Choice in the All-Star Mile at Flemington.
The singing Irish jockey has won three Group 1s in Australia, with none better than his fairytale Melbourne Cup triumph on $91 roughie Knight’s Choice last November for trainers Sheila Laxon and John Symons.
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Dolan also won the Spring Champion Stakes on Profondo at Randwick in 2021 and The Galaxy, riding Shelby Sixtysix, at Rosehill the following year.
But a feature race in Queensland has eluded him from his five starts in majors in the Sunshine State and he is desperate to fill that gap on his impressive CV.
“I’d love to get a Group 1 in Queensland, that’d be pretty cool,” Dolan told Racenet from Tasmania, where he was a special guest for the Launceston Cup on Wednesday.
“I’ve been welcomed so much since I came up here and it’s such a great place to live.
“It’s a great jockeys’ room to be a part of (in southeast Queensland) and Queensland racing is only on the rise.”
Dolan, 28, has been busier than a one-armed circus juggler since the Melbourne Cup, mixing his riding commitments with a string of promotional and guest-speaking activities.
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The former The Voice contestant belted out a few tunes at the Launceston Cup day on Wednesday when he also did a Q&A session as the event’s special guest.
“It’s great for racing. People like to hear your story and that’s what the game’s all about,” he said.
“You see so many people’s eyes light up when you tell them the story of the Melbourne Cup.
“I still get stopped in the streets all the time, it’s crazy. It’s more than a race, the Melbourne Cup, it’s so big.”
Dolan will be back riding at the Sunshine Coast on Friday and then Eagle Farm on Saturday, with the Group 1 $2.5m All-Star Mile (1600m) at Flemington looming on Saturday week.
And he’s confident that Knight’s Choice will run “a cheeky race” against stars such as Mr Brightside, Atishu and Tom Kitten in the elite 16-horse field.
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“He’s a good little horse. It’s no fluke that he won a Melbourne Cup,” Dolan said.
“Obviously he’s no Mr Brightside but not many of them are.
“He’s a Group 1 winner and they don’t give away Group 1s, you’ve got to earn them and he’s done that. He deserves a shot at the All-Star Mile.”
Knight’s Choice is a $51 chance with TAB to win the All-Star Mile but Dolan would love to prove the doubters wrong again.
And another feeling he craves is the pure bliss of winning the race that stops a nation, although he admits that joyful emotion came well after crossing the finishing post.
“It’s more of a numbing feeling, like a shock feeling, like you just can’t believe it,” he said.
“For me anyway, it wasn’t like I was that ecstatic when I hit the line. It was more like I was that shocked, but it’s definitely something I would love to feel again.”
Originally published as Melbourne Cup champ Robbie Dolan craving Group 1 success in Queensland
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