‘I looked up and thought, oh god’: The split-second choice that delivered Point Of Law’s historic Cup triumph

Ethan Brown grew up riding motorbikes on the outskirts of Alice Springs before making the fortuitous career switch to horseback.

As far as engines go, he might never have steered a motor as powerful as this year’s Melbourne Cup winner Point Of Law.

Ethan Brown and Ciaron Maher celebrate their Melbourne Cup win.Justin McManusWhen the 27-year-old screwed back the throttle at the top of the Flemington straight, the striking black stallion let down with a superior acceleration.

The resounding win proved Brown to be an excellent judge in more ways than one because winning Melbourne Cups can be a decade in the making.

First, he chose horses over motorbikes as a teenager while living in the red centre, then he decided to try his hand on racing’s biggest stage.

“I thought I would come to Melbourne and try and ride a few winners,” Brown said.

But his bravest choice of all might have unfolded in the spring when he nominated the Ciaron Maher-trained Point Of Law over another of Maher’s Melbourne Cup gallopers, Zahrann.

“Browny had a tough decision to make,” Maher said. “He was on Zahrann, he knew how good he was going, and he had to jump off [to ride Point Of Law]. So, look, he’s made the right call.”

Zahrann finished second for jockey Ben Melham.

The best jockeys have the most patience and the unerring ability to find the right gaps. Brown has always had these traits.

But for a fleeting moment after the Cup field jumped from the barriers to the roar of the crowd, he looked like he was going to be posted three wide outside longshot Strictly Ballroom.

Such a position can mean the difference between winning and losing because of the extra distance covered by a horse.

Known for his racing smarts, Brown calmly bided his time before slipping forward and sliding into a gap about 300m into the race.

He settled outside 2024 winner Knight’s Choice and tucked in behind UK galloper Enfjaar while a clump of gallopers pushed forward out wide looking for the lead. All were spending energy.

While some believed Geelong Cup winner Point Of Law would not settle, Brown’s gentle touch helped put him to sleep.

Meanwhile, heavily backed favourite Hopewell Rock dropped back from barrier 15. The Irish punters who had backed him to win $10 million at the Call of the Card did their dough.

“Bit of a non-event,” Hopewell Rock’s jockey Zac Lloyd said after the race. “They went ridiculously slow bar the leader, and I was just a fraction on the bridle throughout. When they quickened, they left him flatfooted.”

Another key rival, the JP McManus-owned Trustyourinstinct, was cooked before the start.

He sweated up and danced on his feet in the mounting yard and spent all his chips. He, too, went back at the start from a wide gate.

“We just couldn’t get into the race at all,” jockey James McDonald said.

Few can capture mid-race drama like race caller Matt Hill.

His voice rose with excitement as another of Maher’s seven runners, Royal Supremacy, bolted to the lead around the first turn.

“Royal Supremacy has put the foot down here. He’s stopping and starting them, and Royal Supremacy leads the Cup now by eight or nine lengths,” Hill’s voice bellowed across the course.

Soon it became 20 lengths with 1200m left to run.

“[Leading like that] obviously wasn’t the plan,” Royal Supremacy’s jockey Ben Allen later said.

“I was surprised when I looked back how far off they were as I didn’t think we’d gone that sort of gallop.”

Even the unflappable Maher raised his eyebrows.

“I certainly didn’t know that Royal Supremacy would go and lead by that far but nothing better than a true staying test,” the trainer said.

It was one of the few things Maher got wrong this week. This Cup was anything but a staying test.

For some inexplicable reason, the rest of the field let Royal Supremacy stretch away untouched, and the lack of proactive movement in the pack cost the Europeans any chance. They perform best when allowed to bowl along at a solid clip.

It was a point not lost on Brown, despite import Point Of Law having the advantage of a leadup run in Geelong.

“I got shuffled back a bit further than I would have liked,” he said.

“But I was busy working with him and getting him to settle, and I looked up, and Royal Supremacy was about 20 in front and I thought, ‘Oh god’.”

Brown’s mid-race concerns counted for little when the field turned for home and into the famous Flemington straight.

By this stage, Royal Supremacy was still 12-lengths in front, but was beginning to tire.

It was time for Brown to screw the throttle.

As Point Of Law began to surge, the Alice Springs hoop found himself in the middle of a traffic jam.

This is when the superior jockeys make it count.

Brown was faced with a split-second choice to go left or right to navigate his way past a tiring Goodie Two Shoes.

Had he gone right, he would have found himself in trouble. Instead, he ducked to the left, opening up a sizeable gap. Point Of Law exploded.

“I had to just stay cool, stay patient, cut the bend and once he got that clear running his turn-of-foot was enormous,” Brown said.

As Brown began to find his way clear at the 400m mark, Maher runners Juja Kibo (Sam Clipperton) and Zahrann (Ben Melham) were surging out wide with powerful runs.

They gobbled up tearaway leader Royal Supremacy at the 100m, but could not match motors with Point Of Law.

He stretched away to a four-length win, reeling off a sizzling 11.52-second closing 200 metres.

“When he quickened down at the 350, I thought the race was over then,” Brown said.

“I know Royal Supremacy was still a fair way in front, but there’s not many horses that can quicken like that off the back of the 3200.

“He is going to be a superstar this. He’s something special.”

Juja Kibo held on for third, while Melham was left to lament another second placing in the Melbourne Cup, following his near miss on Johannes Vermeer in 2017.

“Felt like the winner at the top of the straight,” Melham said. “Pretty freakish win by the winner.”

After setting the pace for most of the race, Royal Supremacy finished fifth.

“He was very tough,” Allen said. “The way he ran it, he ran a strong two-mile. Very game in defeat.”

But the race belonged to the boy from Alice Springs and all the correct decisions he had made.

“He’s a beautiful man, Browny,” Maher said.

“He was dialled in. I think I’ve seen an Instagram photo of him, and he looked like he was very chiselled, and you can tell he put in the work and the dedication, and it shows.”

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