Caulfield Cup upset doesn’t disappoint for heaving Caulfield crowd

Punters were excited to be back on track for the Caulfield Cup after being forced to stay away for the past two years.

Michael Dee returns to the mounting yard on Durston after winning the Caulfield Cup. Picture: Brett Holburt-Racing Photos

Desolation gave way to a celebration well before Durston completed a minor upset in the Caulfield Cup.

Two years of cold and empty Caulfield Cup meetings fell into the past as Caulfield heaved in sections as punters celebrating getting back to the track for the $5m event.

Champion mare Verry Elleegant missed out on a deserved ovation as she returned to bare grandstands after her win as Melbourne endured its first Covid crisis in 2020.

Punters were unable to be awe-struck in person as Incentivise dispatched his opposition with ease last year.

A crowd of more than 24,000 hit Caulfield on Saturday, a far cry from the 35,000 or 40,000 punters that used to flock to ‘The Heath’ more than a decade ago.

But Caulfield Racecourse is a different venue in 2022 as construction work is in progress to deliver the Melbourne Racing Club’s vision.

DURSTON POWERS HOME TO WIN THE CAULFIELD CUP 🏆 @cwallerracingpic.twitter.com/ht0kBLICzo

— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) October 15, 2022

Thankfully, one of the masterplan’s key parts is to construct a bigger mounting yard.

Trainers and jockeys were hard-pressed to find space to conduct their crucial pre-race pep talks while owners were kept apart from the jockeys and trainers in a bid to manage the situation.

Members were 10-deep around the mounting yard while the rank-and-file racegoers out in general admission squished together to get a look at the equine athletes and the stars in the saddle like Jamie Kah, Damien Oliver and Mark Zahra before they did battle.

Runners headed to the stalls in front of the main sections of the crowd, which occasionally broke into unintelligible chants, before the race.

In the last two years, the helicopter carrying a Channel 7 camera was the only sound to be heard as the Caulfield Cup began, but the old pre-race excitement was back for 2022.

A cheer as the horses began their 2400m journey and another as they passed the winning post showed punters were back at the track.

The crowd roars as the Caulfield Cup gets under way. Picture: Scott Barbour-Racing Photos via Getty Images

Nothing had changed in Melbourne’s two Covid-marred years – people were still going to flock to the track on the big days.

Working and living methods had undergone enforced change as lockdowns, isolation and vaccinations took hold but Melbourne’s insatiable thirst for top-class sport has remained.

Spare a thought for the owners on Smokin’ Romans, some of which donned hats with their Turnbull Stakes winner’s name on it for the day.

Their hero had stormed to Caulfield Cup favouritism with his win at Flemington, banking them $600,000, and giving them the chance of a dream result in one of Australia’s great races.

They had everything in their favour – champion trainers Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, star jockey Jamie Kah, a luxury weight of 51.5kg and barrier five – but it still wasn’t enough to win the $5m event.

Kah presented Smokin’ Romans to win the race at the 300m but he was no match for Durston and his stablemate Gold Trip as he was carried in by tiring leaders down the straight.

Michael Dee salutes after winning the Caulfield Cup. Picture: Vince Caligiuri-Getty Images

Gold Trip looked set to produce an amazing win a year after he was ruled out of the Cox Plate in controversial circumstances but Durston and young Kiwi jockey Michael Dee nabbed him on line.

Durston’s win showed one thing won’t change, Covid or no Covid, the Chris Waller stable is irrepressible.

Waller won the Caulfield Cup with Verry Elleegant in 2020 but less than half an hour earlier faced a crushing defeat when Victorian three-year-old Giga Kick rolled the stable’s star sprinter Nature Strip in The Everest in Sydney.

OMG GIGA KICK HAS WON THE EVEREST! 😱@[e-mail]/iwamti2PyI

— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) October 15, 2022

Waller threw the traditional Caulfield Cup training manual out the window with Durston, who won the Wyong and Newcastle Cups at much lower levels before he finished sixth in the Group 1 Metropolitan Handicap at Randwick.

Durston, who only gained a start after the scratching of Maximal on race morning, was the first Caulfield Cup winner to emerge from the Metropolitan Handicap since Tawqeet in 2006.

But the way Waller sees things, Durston probably won’t be the last.

The Melbourne Cup now awaits.

Originally published as Caulfield Cup upset doesn’t disappoint for heaving Caulfield crowd