Charlie Fellowes fondly remembers a series of valiant but ultimately futile attempts to win the Melbourne Cup with Prince of Arran.
I remember the lorry rolling up, and out stepped two stunning colts. The first, despite his good looks, turned out to be very unsound and not straightforward to train. The other was Prince of Arran.
I held him in high regard from the start. On reflection, that was largely based around his looks. He was quite frustrating, in truth, managing to keep finding ways to lose races. It took a while for the penny to drop, but I eventually put some headgear on him. He duly went and won.
His three-year-old season was similar; I felt he wasn’t putting 110 per cent into his races. We eventually decided to geld him, and from then on in he just improved and improved. Once he showed us what he could do, there was only really one target in mind. His owners love the Carnival. From day one, the remit had always been that if we have one good enough, we’d head out to Melbourne (and not just once).
For our first try in 2018, we went to Australia without a guaranteed entry. This was a massive risk. He had to win a race to earn his place in the Melbourne Cup. For a horse that didn’t get his nose in front that often, it was a big ask. We headed to Caulfield for a crack at the Herbert Power, but on the day he was very unlucky, getting trapped on a rail and finishing third.
With time against us, we had to run him again just three days before the Melbourne Cup. Off we went to Flemington on Derby day, knowing that any chance of him running in the Cup rested on him winning this race. Second place would get us nowhere. Thankfully, he ran an astonishing race. It was phenomenal – to this day, my favourite moment in racing.
“Once he showed us what he could do, there was only really one target in mind.”
The next 48 hours were a whirlwind. We arrived at the track that morning and it was chucking it down. He hated soft ground, but that wasn’t the only troubling development: we got our draw and found ourselves practically in the car park. We were pretty deflated. All the hard work to get him into the race, and the odds felt stacked against us.
Fortunately, Melbourne dries up very quickly. Coming into the straight he looked like he was going to nick it, but he just got passed and ended up third. What a brave horse. What a day.
After that, the plan was always to head back to Australia and have another go. It’s a specialist race and we knew we had to give him another chance.
Again, his form at home was a little underwhelming. But as time passed we were beginning to learn a lot about him. I gave him a midsummer break and he had a prep run in England where he ran well enough to put him back on that long-haul flight. We headed to Australia in good heart, but we still had the small matter of needing to win another race to book our spot in the field. Thankfully he won first time around, in the Geelong Cup.
The big day itself was a strange mix of emotions. It was the closest he got to winning the race, but the least excited I felt. At no stage did I think he was going to win; even up the straight I didn’t think it would happen.
What you don’t see from the side-on angle is that one of the other horses veered off a true line, taking out another horse and nearly handing us the race. But truthfully, he wasn’t the best horse in that race that day. In the stewards’ room, he was promoted to second spot after the runner-up was disqualified.
Third time lucky, I thought. It seemed written in the stars. Sadly, the 2020 race would become my biggest regret in racing. Not only were we not able be there in person, due to Covid, but we also had the best horse in the race. I challenge anyone to disagree with me on that. He got stuck in a pocket at the wrong time and couldn’t get out. He was absolutely flying at the line, but it all came too late.
I don’t know if that will be the last chance I get to win a Melbourne Cup – I hope not. But it’s not often you have the best horse in the race at that level. To come away without winning was pretty gutting. But time is a great healer. I look back on his career now with immense pride. To take him there three years in a row and have him absolutely spot on in time for the race is a big achievement. It’ll take something huge to top that in the future.
It’s a race I still think about every day. I’m constantly wondering who my next Melbourne hero could be. It’s a wonderful occasion – the Australians love their racing; Flemington is a phenomenal track, and it is a race that I would love to win.
On that note, I might just have one in the pipeline for this year. Grand Alliance, who won the Group 3 John Porter at Newbury, is pretty much perfect for the race. He likes a big field and Australian racing suits quirky horses. The two miles round Flemington could be just his poison. Watch this space!
Charlie Fellowes is a Fitzdares Ambassador and multiple Royal Ascot winning trainer.
