Point Of Law has won the 2026 Melbourne Cup at Flemington, storming home for trainer Ciaron Maher and jockey Ethan Brown to claim the $10.2 million race.
Zahrann ran second, ahead of Juja Kibo in a photo finish for the minor placings, with Sons And Lovers fourth, The Age reported. Both Zahrann and Juja Kibo are also trained by Maher.
Royal Supremacy set up a big lead, about 10 lengths at halfway according to the ABC, and still led on the turn, but was swamped in the straight.
King’s former horse completes the job
Point Of Law, a son of Frankel, was bred and raced by King Charles III and trained in England by John and Thady Gosden before connections bought him and sent him to Maher, Racing.com reported.
He came into the Cup off a half-length win in the Group 3 Geelong Cup (2400m) on 21 October, which earned him a ballot-free start and pushed him to the top of the Cup betting.
Read more: Melbourne Cup 2026 Barrier Draw: Full Field as Point Of Law Draws 9
Drawn barrier 9 and carrying 53kg, he gave Brown his first Melbourne Cup. The winner collects $4.5 million of the $10.2 million prize pool, according to Racing Australia.
Brown’s big day
Brown, 27, grew up in Alice Springs, left home at 15 to chase a riding career in Melbourne, and came back from a life-threatening fall, Racing.com reported in a feature on Sunday. Before the race he said winning the Cup with Maher “would mean the world”.
The field was cut to 23 runners on Tuesday morning when stewards scratched the Chris Waller-trained Asterix at 10:33am. The track was rated a Soft 5.
Read more: Melbourne Cup 2026 Predicted Finish: Where We Have All 24 Runners Finishing
Official placings beyond the first four had not been released at the time of writing.
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