Trainer: Mike Moroney
Jockey: Kerrin McEvoy
Silks: Light Blue, Black Sleeves And Cap

New Zealand-bred Brew was a son of the champion multiple-Group 1 winning mare Horlicks who had a Japan Cup victory to her credit.  After two New Zealand starts, Brew raced entirely in Australia where he recorded seven wins and 11 placings. For most of that career he was trained in Victoria by former New Zealander Mike Maroney whose brother, Paul, became a part-owner. Also among the owners was Andrew Ramsden, the VRC Chairman at the time, as manager of Gurner’s Bloodstock. He had been part of the syndicate who raced 1982 Cup winner, Gurner’s Lane. Brew finished tenth in the 1999 Cup but his form was better the following year. He won his way into the 2000 Cup with a win in the Saab Quality (former Hotham Handicap). It was the first Cup win for future champion jockey Kerrin McEvoy of South Australia, who was 20 at the time. 

Trainer: Sheila Laxon
Jockey: Scott Seamer
Silks: Dark Blue, White Hoops, Silver Sleeves, Quartered Cap

Cup Day in 2001 was full of drama with rain falling in the 24 hours leading into the race. Ethereal’s owners considered scratching their horse and it was only quick talking by Queensland jockey, Scott Seamer, and former top rider, Brent Thomson, that ensured Ethereal took her place. The New Zealand mare was bred and raced by brothers Peter and Paul Vela and trained by Welsh-born Sheila Laxon, former wife of Laurie Laxon who had trained 1988 Cup winner, Empire Rose. With four wins from nine New Zealand starts as a 3YO, Ethereal went to Brisbane in mid-2001 and won the Queensland Oaks, ridden by Scott Seamer. In the spring they won the Caulfield Cup–Melbourne Cup double. While acknowledging the achievement of New Zealand trainer Hedwick ‘Granny’ McDonald in preparing the 1938 winner Catalogue, Sheila Laxon proudly entered the record books as the first woman officially to train the winner of a Melbourne Cup. In 2002 Ethereal won her final race, the Group 1 BMW in Sydney. 

Trainer: Dermot K. Weld
Jockey: Damien Oliver
Silks: Yellow, Royal Blue Epaulettes, Star Cap

It was one of the great moments in sporting history: jockey Damien Oliver rose above all challenges to secure the 2002 Melbourne Cup aboard Media Puzzle. He had lost his brother, Jason, seven days earlier in a racing accident in Perth, and Damien rode under great personal duress on Derby Day and then Cup Day. But as if the script had been written, Damien Oliver rode the race of his life aboard the Irish-trained invader, Media Puzzle, to record his second Cup victory. It was owner Dr Michael Smurfit and trainer Dermot Weld’s second Cup win, too, after Vintage Crop in 1993, and the first northern hemisphere winner since then. Media Puzzle’s prior form in Ireland had not been as strong as Vintage Crop’s had been, but he won his way into contention with a good win in the Geelong Cup ahead of the Melbourne Cup. The story was later told in a successful book and movie called simply ‘The Cup’. 

Trainer: David Hall
Jockey: Glen Boss
Silks:  Royal Blue, White Southern Cross, Red And White Checked Half And Checked Cap, Royal Blue Pom Pom

It was the first volume in what was to become a history-making trilogy. No horse had won three Melbourne Cups in the long history of the race. Owner Tony Santic operated a successful fishery business in South Australia and had an interest in breeding thoroughbreds. In England in 1999 he bought an American-bred broodmare, Tugela, in foal to Desert King. The resultant filly foal was soon offered for public sale but did not make the reserve, so accompanied her mother to Australia. The name Makybe Diva came from the names of employees at the Santic business. Trained originally by David Hall at Flemington, she won six of her first seven starts including the 2002 Werribee Cup and the Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Flemington. After running good races during the next year she was ridden for the first time by former Queensland jockey, Glen Boss, for a fourth place in the Caulfield Cup before her emphatic first win in the 2003 Melbourne Cup. 

Trainer: Lee Freedman
Jockey: Glen Boss
Silks: Royal Blue, White Southern Cross, Red And White Checked Half And Checked Cap, Royal Blue Pom Pom

For Makybe Diva to win two Melbourne Cups, back-to-back, well and truly stamped this mare as a great stayer. In the intervening twelve months she added to her tally the Sydney Cup, ridden by Glen Boss. At the end of that racing season, trainer David Hall accepted with some reluctance an offer to train in Hong Kong. The mare was transferred to the stables of Lee Freedman who by now had three Melbourne Cups to his credit. Makybe Diva ran good seconds in the Feehan at Moonee Valley and in the Caulfield Cup before taking her second Melbourne Cup on a wet track in 2004, defeating the champion Irish horse, Vinnie Roe. Glen Boss was by now firmly entrenched as the regular jockey of Makybe Diva. It was a fourth Melbourne Cup win for trainer Lee Freedman.

Trainer: Lee Freedman
Jockey: Glen Boss
Silks: Royal Blue, White Southern Cross, Red And White Checked Half And Checked Cap, Royal Blue Pom Pom

To have a dream run in one Cup is fortuitous. To get that same dream run a second year seems beyond luck. To boast a third Cup victory from another dream run is beyond belief. That is the story of Makybe Diva and Glen Boss winning Australia’s greatest horse race three years in a row. No horse, no jockey had done this before. Beside luck there was skill and courage. She carried a record weight for a mare to victory (58kg) and was brilliantly ridden by Boss with the expectation of the world on his own shoulders. Trainer Lee Freedman, scoring his fifth Melbourne Cup success, had also weathered the pressure of hopes and expectation. He was quoted as saying ‘Go and find the smallest child on this course because that will be the only person who lives long enough to see something like this again’. Makybe Diva’s win was as authoritative as her first and had the scribes searching for superlatives. ‘The best since Phar Lap’ was one of the cries from those who actually know something about horse racing. Everyone who attended Flemington that day will remember forever this special moment.

Trainer: Katsuhiko Sumii
Jockey: Yasunari Iwata
Silks: Black, Red Crossed Sashes, Yellow Striped Sleeves, Red Cap with Pom Pom

The internationalisation of the Melbourne Cup had another twist in 2006 when for the first time two Japanese-bred, owned and trained horses not only competed in the famous race but also filled the first two places, decided only in a photo finish. Both were trained by Katsuhiko Sumii and the winner was ridden by Japanese jockey Yasunari Iwata, while runner-up Pop Rock was ridden by Australian champion Damien Oliver. Both horses came to Australia with excellent form: Delta Blues had been placed as a 3YO in the Japan Cup before winning the Kikoko Sho, known as Japan’s St Leger. Ahead of his Melbourne Cup win, he finished third in the Caulfield Cup. Pop Rock went on to finish third in the 2007 Japan Cup. The pair outclassed the Melbourne Cup field on the day, with more than a four-length margin to the third placegetter, the Sydney trained Maybe Better. 

Trainer: Graeme Rogerson
Jockey: Michael Rodd
Silks: Navy Blue, White Armbands And Cap

Many champion thoroughbreds have won a Victoria Derby and a Melbourne Cup, some winning both as 3YOs, but no Derby winner had gone on to win the Cup since Delta who won the 1949 Derby and 1951 Cup. In 2006 Efficient won the Derby and the following year, as a paler shade of grey, he returned to win the Melbourne Cup. It was a vindication for managing part-owner Lloyd Williams, for whom another Cup had become a quest after his previous wins in 1981 and 1985. Former top New Zealand trainer Graeme Rogerson had been associated with earlier Cup winners, but this was his first as official trainer. Rogerson established himself in Australia in the 1990s. Efficient was purchased at the 2005 New Zealand yearling sales. He was a son of Zabeel (son of Sir Tristram) who also sired Melbourne Cup winner Might And Power (1997) and Jezzabeel (1998). Michael Rodd was 25 when he won the Cup, at his first ride in the race, but he had ridden Efficient when he won the Derby the previous year.   

Trainer: J.B (Bart) Cummings
Jockey: Blake Shinn
Silks:  Black, White Checks, Yellow Sleeves, Checked Cap

There had been narrow wins in past Melbourne Cups, but this year was close to a dead heat. With the Australian-bred Viewed getting the judge’s verdict, Bart Cummings secured his twelfth and final winner in Australia’s most coveted race, just days before his 81st birthday. Viewed had shown early promise with wins in Sydney and victory in the 2008 Brisbane Cup on a heavy track, but lost favour as a Melbourne Cup prospect after disappointing runs in the Caulfield Cup and Mackinnon. Nevertheless, Cummings’s achievement was greeted with acclaim by the crowd, and it was a fourth Cup win for owner Dato Tan Chin Nam. Blake Shinn, 21 at the time, was riding Viewed for only the second time. For the visiting English trainer, Luca Cumani, and local jockey, Corey Brown, it was the nearest of misses on Bauer.

Trainer: Mark Kavanagh
Jockey: Corey Brown, Taree
Silks: Black, Orange Checked Sash And Cap

For the second year in a row, in the era when the Melbourne Cup had established itself as a truly international race, an Australian-bred stayer was the winner. Shocking earned his place after winning the Saab Quality (Hotham) three days earlier. After drawing barrier 21 in the Cup, jockey Corey Brown was trapped wide for much of the race. He held the horse together and, as the tempo of the race slackened, avoided traffic congestion nearer the fence. Reaching the famous Flemington clock tower, Brown took Shocking to the lead and held off the fast-finishing Godolphin-trained Crime Scene. Winning owner Lawrence Eales had selected Shocking at yearling sales in Adelaide because he had seen the sire Street Cry win the 2002 Dubai World Cup. The win was a triumph for trainer Mark Kavanagh, a former jumps jockey from Mt Gambier. And sweet victory for Corey Brown who had lost narrowly the previous year.

Trainer: Alain de Royer-Dupré, France
Jockey: Gérald Mossé, France
Silks: White, Royal Blue Stripe With White Stars, Red, White And Royal Blue Striped Sleeves And Cap

There was much anticipation ahead of the 150th running of the Melbourne Cup, with the Melbourne Cup trophy touring internationally as well as around Australia and New Zealand in the build-up to the race. And it was a truly international result, with the US-bred Americain, with his French trainer and jockey, carrying the day after earlier successes in Grade 2 races in France. For Gérald Mossé, based in Hong Kong, this was his first ride in a Melbourne Cup. Ridden patiently, Americain sat well off the pace throughout the race. Mossé waited to call on his best effort from his mount, swamping the star-studded field in the closing stages. Maluckyday finished second. Dual Cox Plate winner So You Think, trained by Bart Cummings, hit the front near the winning post before finishing third. It was his last Australian start before being sold to race with further success in England and Ireland under Aidan O’Brien. 

Trainer: Mikel Delzangles
Jockey: Christophe Lemaire
Silks: Yellow And Royal Blue Stars, Yellow Cap

For the second successive year it was essentially a French Melbourne Cup. The Melbourne Cup winner followed exactly the same path to Flemington as the previous winner, Americain. This included victory in the Geelong Cup thirteen days before the Cup. French trainer Mikel Delzangles explained, ‘I used to work for Alain de Royer-Dupré, so when he won with Americain the year before, I thought he knows what he is doing, so took the same path’. The horse’s Qatari owner, Sheikh Fahad bin Abdullah Al Thani, was 21 when he won the Cup. As with Gérald Mossé the year earlier, French jockey Christophe Lemaire had not ridden at Flemington before, but he walked the track on the morning of the race with 1999 winning jockey, John Marshall. The result of the race was a photo finish as tight as in 2008, Dunaden defeating Red Cadeaux who twice again would be runner-up in a Melbourne Cup.

Trainer: Robert Hickmott
Jockey: Brett Prebble
Silks: Navy Blue, White Armbands And Cap

Green Moon became the fourth Melbourne Cup winner for leviathan owner, Lloyd Williams. Irish-bred, the horse had first raced in England and, under trainer Harry Dunlop, won the Fairway Stakes at Newmarket. He was then sold privately to Williams’s ownership group and was trained at Macedon, Victoria under Robert Hickmott who had previously assisted with the training of 2007 winner, Efficient. After a win in the 2011 Newcastle (NSW) Gold Cup and a second in the Caulfield Cup, Green Moon returned in excellent form in 2012 with wins in weight-for-age Group 1 races but disappointed in the Cox Plate ten days before the Cup. Victorian jockey, Brett Prebble, who had been riding successfully in Hong Kong, now took the ride, and won convincingly over Fiorente, who won the Melbourne Cup following year. 

Trainer: Gai Waterhouse
Jockey: Damien Oliver
Silks: Black, Purple Sash

Sydney trainer Gai Waterhouse had come so close to winning a Melbourne Cup early in her career, with runners-up Te Akau Nick (1993), Nothin’ Leica Dane (1995) and Fiorente (2012). By now she was famous in her own right, winning her first Sydney trainers’ premiership in season 1996–97, no longer in the shadow of her famous father, trainer T.J. Smith. Now, Gai broke through with the Irish-bred Fiorente who had won the 2012 Princes of Wales’s Stakes at Newmarket when trained by Sir Michael Stoute. The colt was sold privately for a large sum and sent to Australia for Gai Waterhouse to train. His 2012 Cup performance was excellent, and in 2013 he went one better after a good third in the Cox Plate. For the second time, Red Cadeaux was runner-up. This was the third Cup victory for champion jockey, Damien Oliver, by now 41. Fiorente went on to win the 2014 Australian Cup before being retired to the stud. 

Trainer: Andreas Wöhler
Jockey: Ryan Moore
Silks: Royal Blue, White Horseshoe, Black And White Checked Sleeves And Cap

The Melbourne Cup as an international race took another step with the win of Protectionist in 2014. Like the previous winner, the Irish-bred Fiorente, Protectionist was a son of the German sire Monsun. He was initially owned and trained in Germany. His win in the 2014 Prix Kergorlay at Deauville, France suggested a pathway to the Melbourne Cup, as Americain had won the race in 2010. He was sold to a syndicate, Australian Bloodstock, with Wöhler retained for the Cup campaign. English jockey Ryan Moore had already been three times the British flat racing champion jockey, with wins in the English Derby, Oaks, 1000 Guineas, Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and Japan Cup to his credit, but he had never ridden in Australia before winning the 2014 Cup. Red Cadeaux for the third time ran second. Protectionist had one run in Australia ahead of the Cup. After his victory he remained in Australia, but without further track success, before returning to Germany for a stud career.  

Trainer: Darren Weir
Jockey: Michelle Payne
Silks: White And Mauve Checks, Emerald Green Sleeves And Cap

The story this time was the jockey. Michelle Payne became the first female jockey to win the Melbourne Cup. Her mount, Prince of Penzance, was a rank outsider despite fair recent form and a win in the previous year’s Moonee Valley Cup. His odds in the 2015 Melbourne Cup were 100/1 but he and his jockey were cheered back to scale. Michelle was 30 when she won the Cup, an accomplished rider from a family of jockeys and trainers, and she had overcome injuries and prejudice against female jockeys to win this race. New Zealand-bred Prince of Penzance was trained in Victoria by Darren Weir, the high point of his career. The story was made into the movie, ‘Ride Like a Girl’, directed by Rachel Griffiths. It recreates Payne’s brilliant ride, where she beat French-bred Max Dynamite, ridden by superstar Frankie Dettori, to the post. It also included her pithy advice to all who doubted the capacity of women jockeys to win big races to ‘get stuffed’.   

Trainer: Robert Hickmott
Jockey: Kerrin McEvoy
Silks: Navy Blue, White Armbands, Red Cap

The German-bred Almandin won the 2014 Grade 2 Grosser Preis der Badischen Unternehmer at Baden Baden beating Protectionist, which was sufficient recommendation for Lloyd Williams and partners to acquire the horse and aim for another Melbourne Cup. The sire, Monsun, had also sired Protectionist and the 2013 Cup winner, Fiorente. Almandin had been trained in Europe by Jean-Pierre Carvalho. In Australia he was put under the care of Robert Hickmott who had trained Green Moon for his 2012 Cup win, and he soon showed his form with wins in the Harry White Classic at Caulfield and then the Bart Cummings Quality Handicap which put him into the Melbourne Cup automatically. Jockey Kerrin McEvoy, who first won the Cup in 2000, had been enjoying international success, and he took the ride. It was a tight finish. Almandin outgunned the Irish horse Heartbreak City, ridden by international star Joe Moreira. 

Trainer: Joseph O’Brien
Jockey: Corey Brown
Silks: Navy Blue, White Armbands, Pink Cap

Winning the Melbourne Cup has been something on Lloyd Williams’s agenda from an early age—and, unashamedly, targeted with a passion. Williams is an owner who makes no secret of the race he wants to win most, the Melbourne Cup. Almandin, the previous year, had given him his fourth winner in the race. Rekindling was sent out to Australia after running poorly in the English Derby some five months earlier. He then won the Curragh Cup, ran second in the Irish St Leger Trial and fourth in the Grade 1 English St Leger in the lead up. The young trainer, Joseph O’Brien, 24 at the time, a former Irish champion jockey, is a son of the renowned Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien. Rekindling remained in his charge for his run in the Melbourne Cup. Rekindling was still a 3YO by northern hemisphere reckoning but was deemed a 4YO in Australia when he won the Cup. It was Corey Brown’s second Cup win. Runner-up Johannes Vermeer was also owned by the Williams partnership.

Trainer: Charlie Appleby
Jockey: Kerrin McEvoy
Silks: Royal Blue, Red Cap

Lexus became sponsor of the Melbourne Cup from 2018. Cross Counter became the second northern hemisphere-bred 3YO in as many years to win the Cup. When racing in Australia in November, technically Cross Counter was deemed a 4YO. The internationally powerful Godolphin stable of Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum had made several attempts to win the Melbourne Cup and had come close with placegetters in the past. This time they achieved success when Newmarket (UK) trainer Charlie Appleby brought Cross Counter to Melbourne for the race after a good second in the time-honoured Great Voltigeur Stakes at York. In the Cup, Cross Counter sat off the pace throughout before unleashing a blistering run over the concluding stages. South Australian-born international jockey Kerrin McEvoy won his third Melbourne Cup. Cross Counter went on to win the 2019 Dubai Gold Cup.

Trainer: Danny O’Brien
Jockey: Craig Williams
Silks: Orange, White Epaulettes And Sleeves, Quartered Cap

After internationally bred and trained horses had won many of the recent Cups, it was the Queensland-bred Vow And Declare who won the race in 2019. In a thrilling finish, Vow And Declare pushed through on the inside along the fence, getting up by the margin of a head. Second horse past the post, Master Of Reality, was then relegated to fourth place after a complicated protest by stewards on behalf of fourth placegetter, Il Paradiso, which promoted Prince of Arran to second place. This scenario had never happened before in Cup history. One year earlier, Vow And Declare had won a Listed race at Flemington at the Melbourne Cup carnival. Now, after a second in the 2019 Caulfield Cup, he won the big race itself. It was a first Melbourne Cup for local trainer Danny O’Brien and for popular Melbourne jockey Craig Williams, 42 at the time.