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Damien Oliver was so far away from the finishing line in his last Melbourne Cup that he could not be certain who had won.
“I saw Mark [Zahra] go up so I thought he probably won, I was a fair way off them,” Oliver revealed.
The Melbourne Cup curtain closed on Oliver on Tuesday, though he will not bow out until after the Perth carnival next month.
Damien Oliver returns to the mounting yard on AlenquerCredit: Getty Images
For casual racegoers who seldom tune into the sport outside of carnival time, there was a sense of nostalgia in Oliver’s 32nd and final ride in the nation’s great race.
Oliver jumping off Media Puzzle after his incredible 2002 Melbourne Cup win.Credit: Fairfax
A generation of Australians have grown up with Oliver part of their spring carnival soundtrack. He won the first of his three Cups resembling a long-haired surfy on Doriemus in 1995 for Lee Freedman, whose brother and nephew – Anthony and Sam – were triumphant in his last ride in the race.
They have cried and celebrated with him. In 2002, they did both at the same time after he rode Media Puzzle to victory just days after his brother Jason died in a race fall.
He is one of few jockeys to have completed Australian racing’s grand slam of the Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate, Melbourne Cup and Golden Slipper.
Oliver, 51, who can no longer take lightweight rides, does not get the opportunities he once had. In his pomp, he was one of the most sought-after hoops in the land for trainers. These days, the stars of this generation like Zahra, James McDonald and Damian Lane get first crack.
Though he has ridden three winners this Cup carnival, the best of his three rides in the group 1s on Derby Day started at $16.
Since winning his third and final Cup, in 2013 on Fiorente for Gai Waterhouse, Oliver has finished no closer than seventh in his eight rides since.
In Oliver’s final Cup, Alenquer was sent out a $21 chance, largely out of sentiment, but had the form of a 100-1 shot – and ran accordingly, beaten 33.45 lengths in 21st. He would have been about 100 metres from the line when Zahra crossed the finish line on Without A Fight.
“I had a good run, I just would have liked him to relax a little bit better,” Oliver said. “Probably just for mine at this stage [he] didn’t run out a strong two miles.”
Alenquer, for the 2000 Cup-winning trainer Mike Moroney, had been under a fitness cloud leading into the race due to a stone bruise, and was not cleared to run until the early hours of the morning. The public, it seemed, were more anxious about Oliver having a Cup swansong than the man himself.
“I was actually pretty relaxed,” Oliver said. “I didn’t want the horse to run just for the sake of it, conscious of the horse’s wellbeing.
“Both Mike [Moroney] and I are experienced campaigners, we’re past the stage of just wanting a runner. The horse is more important to both of us.”
Some of Australia’s finest jockeys, like Hugh Bowman of Winx fame and Darren Gauci, have yet to taste success in the race that stops a nation. Even the world’s best, Frankie Dettori and Joao Moreira, who kept running into dead ends on runner-up Soulcombe, have found the Cup elusive.
Oliver can at least go to his retirement content to have won it three times, a record bettered only by Bobby Lewis and Harry White. He rides Basilinna in the Oaks, and Duais in the Champions Stakes to bow out on a high.
“They’re [Melbourne Cups] not easy to win,” Oliver said. “It’s been a long career, very fortunate to have had a lot of success. I can’t be complaining.”
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