Knight's Choice swoops late for Melbourne Cup shock under Kildare native Robbie Dolan

Knight's Choice claimed Lexus Melbourne Cup gold as a 90-1 outsider as the European raiders failed to fire in the Flemington feature.

Britain and Ireland appeared to have a strong challenge for the two-mile contest with Harry Eustace’s Bendigo Cup winner Sea King and the Brian Ellison-trained Geelong Cup hero Onesmoothoperator joined by Willie Mullins’ pair of Vauban and Absurde, with all four towards the head of the betting.

None of them could land a blow though as Knight’s Choice and Japanese runner Warp Speed battled it out in the dying strides, with Kildare-born jockey Robbie Dolan just prevailing on Knight’s Choice, who is trained in partnership by John Symons and Sheila Laxon.

Absurde fared best of the European quartet in fifth, improving on last year’s seventh place, while Vauban was 11th, Onesmoothoperator 12th and Sea King 14th of the 23 runners.

Dolan rode in Ireland for a couple of seasons before moving to Australia, where he hit the headlines off the track after featuring on TV series The Voice in 2022.

"Pinch me, I think I’m dreaming! It’s incredible, I can’t believe it," he told Channel Nine.

"I’ve never ridden in this race before so I didn’t know what to expect, but I feel like I’ve ridden in it 10 times because I’ve ran the race in my head before I got here.

"It panned out exactly as I thought it would. I thought I’d be closer, but they went quick and I decided I ride him for luck as I know he’s got a good turn of foot.

"Sheila and John were so confident in this horse before he got to the race, a lot of people doubted him but I didn’t."

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