{"id":344004,"date":"2023-11-04T06:02:26","date_gmt":"2023-11-04T07:02:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=344004"},"modified":"2023-11-04T09:01:12","modified_gmt":"2023-11-04T09:01:12","slug":"star-jockeys-bizarre-act-seals-derby-victory-in-photo-finish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=344004","title":{"rendered":"Star jockey's bizarre act seals Derby victory in photo finish"},"content":{"rendered":"

Riff Rocket held on by the thinnest of margins to win the Victoria Derby<\/a> at Flemington Racecourse on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Carrying 57kg, Riff Rocket is trained by \ufeffthe legendary Chris Waller and was ridden by James McDonald.<\/p>\n

Justifying his label as the favourite, Riff Rocket just nosed Apulia, who finished in second, with Sunsets grabbing third.<\/p>\n

FOLLOW LIVE:<\/strong> Melbourne Cup 2023 barrier draw<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Wrong': Aussies botching Cup favourite's name<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: \ufeff<\/strong>How weather forecast will impact the 2023 Melbourne Cup<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

In an extremely tight battle that required a photo finish to determine the winner, McDonald can be seen pushing the head of his horse, Riff Rocket, down to ensure he hit the line first.<\/p>\n

\"James<\/p>\n

"\ufeffIt's just head down, bum up," MacDonald told Network 10.<\/p>\n

"It was just close … you're so far apart \ufeffand it's really hard to judge whether you've got it.<\/p>\n

"So, it was great."<\/p>\n

Riff Rocket began his assault at the 300m mark, going down the middle of the track to chase down Sunsets.<\/p>\n

The race looked run and won with 100 metres to go, before a late surge along the inside from Apulia under the urging of jockey Mark Zahra saw the horses go to the line almost in unison, with $2.15 favourite Riff Rocket prevailing in the tightest of photo finishes.<\/p>\n

Victoria Derby final result<\/h2>\n

1. \ufeffRIFF ROCKET<\/p>\n

2. APULIA<\/p>\n

3. SUNSETS<\/p>\n

4. KOSGEI\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Riff Rocket held on by the thinnest of margins to win the Victoria Derby at Flemington Racecourse on Saturday afternoon. Carrying 57kg, Riff Rocket is […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":344006,"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\/344004"}],"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=344004"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344004\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":344007,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344004\/revisions\/344007"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/344006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=344004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=344004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=344004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}