{"id":153887,"date":"2021-11-02T09:01:32","date_gmt":"2021-11-02T10:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=153887"},"modified":"2021-11-02T15:58:25","modified_gmt":"2021-11-02T15:58:25","slug":"staggering-admission-drops-after-melbourne-cup-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=153887","title":{"rendered":"Staggering admission drops after Melbourne Cup win"},"content":{"rendered":"

Melbourne Cup<\/a>-winning trainer Chris Waller has made the extraordinary admission that he didn't want to run Verry Elleegant and stewed over the call until the last possible moment.<\/p>\n

The greatly respected trainer, who watched the race from his Sydney home to avoid a five-day isolation upon returning from Melbourne, had set October's Cox Plate<\/a> as the top priority for the mighty mare's spring. He had been extremely wary of overtaxing the horse by committing to the Melbourne Cup, too.<\/p>\n

But after Verry Elleegant stormed home to win the 161st edition of The Great Race<\/a>, surging past raging favourite Incentivise with 200 metres to go and collecting the $7,750,000 crown, Waller is ecstatic with his decision to enter the horse in the race.<\/p>\n

LIVE UPDATES:\u00a0<\/strong>Verry Elleegant wins 2021 Melbourne Cup; Results as it happened<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The 48-year-old had gone excruciatingly close to forgoing that incredible moment.<\/p>\n

"I just didn't want to run her," Waller told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age<\/a>.<\/p>\n

"But I couldn't find a reason not to \u2013 it's as simple as that. I think it was 3:30pm on Saturday (that we had to make the call)."<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Bookmaker's astonishing $5 million Melbourne Cup mistake<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The triumph marks the first Melbourne Cup win for both Waller and jockey James McDonald, who executed a brilliant ride on the six-year-old mare.<\/p>\n

\"Verry<\/p>\n

Verry Elleegant has become the first horse to win a Melbourne Cup from the once-cursed barrier 18, as well as the first of her sex to win the iconic event since Makybe Diva won three on the trot between 2003 and 2005.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Melbourne Cup runner Tralee Rose taken vet hospital<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

"It's probably as good as it gets," Waller said.<\/p>\n

"The kids were pretty excited. They were more excited than me. It hasn't sunk in."<\/p>\n

Waller's Melbourne assistant, Jo Taylor, gave him a shout-out following the Cup victory.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Melbourne Cup 2021 full finishing order<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

"I really wish Chris could have been here," Taylor said on Channel 10.<\/p>\n

"COVID has been a cruel thing to him.<\/p>\n

"I would say he's just as elated just by having those victories and by watching (McDonald's) reaction.<\/p>\n

"I think it just shows you how special this race is."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/em><\/strong> clicking here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Melbourne Cup-winning trainer Chris Waller has made the extraordinary admission that he didn't want to run Verry Elleegant and stewed over the call until the […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153887"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=153887"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153887\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":153889,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153887\/revisions\/153889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=153887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=153887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=153887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}