Horse racing-Point of Law runs down Royal Supremacy in Melbourne Cup thriller

Point Of Law ran down surprise leader Royal Supremacy on ​the home straight to win the 166th running of the ​Melbourne Cup at Flemington on Tuesday, giving trainer ‌Ciaron ​Maher his second victory in Australia's biggest horse race.

The 4-year-old stallion bided his time for the first 2,900 metres as rank outsider Royal Supremacy opened up a lead of 20 lengths but exploded ‌off the final corner and sprinted home to win the A$10.2 million ($7.16 million) handicap by two lengths. "Please don't wake me up, it's an amazing feeling," jockey Ethan Brown said from the saddle as he brought the 6-1 second favourite in.

"I looked up and Royal Supremacy was about 20 in ‌front. I thought, 'oh, God, just stay cool, stay patient, cut the bend'. And once he got that clear running, his turn of foot ‌was enormous. He's going to be a superstar horse if he isn't already." Zahrann finished second ahead of Juja Kibo to give Maher, who co-trained 2022 winner Gold Trip and had seven horses in the race, a sweep of the top three.

Irish trainer Joseph O'Brien prepared five horses for the race but had to settle for a best ⁠finish of ​fourth place through Sons and Lovers. Favourite ⁠Hopewell Rock finished ninth, while Royal Supremacy's reward for leading for most of the race was fifth place.

Jockey Brown left his home in Alice Springs in Australia's remote ⁠Northern Territory as a teenager to chase his dream and spent six months out of the sport after a nasty fall at Flemington three years ago. "I was ​inches from losing my life, but a bit of time off and I realised I wasn't any good at anything else," ⁠he said. "There was a slow burn inside of me."

Brown paid tribute to the trust Maher had placed in him by giving him the ride. "He's done nothing but support me ⁠and ​backed me and I buggered up plenty of times on his horses and he just he's had nothing but faith," the 27-year-old added.

"He's one of many people, but he's believed in me. He showed that by putting me on." Maher returned the compliment during the post-race ceremony.

"I ⁠could just see how dedicated he was this year," said the former jockey, who has made a success of importing horses to train ⁠and race in Australia. "He was dialled ⁠in and that was a beautiful exhibition of how to ride a horse in the Melbourne Cup."

Earlier, Asterix was scratched and trainer Chris Waller fined A$50,000 hours before the race after a stablehand applied a ‌liniment to the gelding's ‌forelegs without permission from the stewards. ($1 = 1.4253 Australian dollars)