Joy for Tony and Calvin McEvoy as Half Yours skips away with Caulfield Cup
Half Yours (St Jean) proved himself one of the shrewdest second-hand buys of the century as he added to a regal day for unsung sires by lifting Saturday’s Caulfield Cup (Gr 1, 2400m).
Bringing trainer Tony McEvoy his first victory in the race – made more special by achieving it in partnership with son Calvin – the five-year-old prevailed as $2.50 favourite, giving rider Jamie Melham her first victory in one of Australia’s “Big Four”.
And more spring glory could await, with bookmakers responding by drastically shortening Half Yours into $3.50 favouritism for the Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) at Flemington on November 4.
Starting from gate two, Melham had Half Yours well positioned in midfield as the Caulfield Cup unfolded at an even tempo. The race changed dramatically when Jordan Childs sent Adelaide River (Australia) to the front at the 1300 metres, opening a gap that stretched to eight lengths down the railway side.
But while that caused heart flutters for McEvoy Snr, he needn’t have worried.
As the field bunched around the home turn, Melham eased Half Yours into the clear some eight horses wide, and the gelding responded majestically, claiming the lead from Adelaide River inside the 200 metres, and finishing powerfully to score by 0.46 lengths.
Like his fellow leviathan trainer Ciaron Maher did in the day’s other highlight of The Everest (Gr 1, 1200m), Chris Waller filled the two minor placings in the Cup.
Yulong mare River Of Stars (Sea The Stars) stormed home for second at $91, while Valiant King (Roaring Lion) took third, a further length back, at $26.
And like the relatively unsung Shamexpress (O’Reilly) did in siring Everest (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Ka Ying Rising, the even lesser known St Jean emerged with a stunning top tier triumph through Half Yours’s powerful victory.
Standing at Victoria’s Brackley Park stud for $3,300, St Jean the Obscure has covered just 26 mares in the past four seasons. He has a stakes-winners-to-runners ratio of 4.54 per cent (just behind Shamexpress’s 6.41 per cent), but that’s because Half Yours is his sole black type victor among just 22 runners.
A little-known pedigree matters little when you watch Half Yours gallop, although he was definitely bred to stay, being by a son of Teofilo (Galileo) out of a daughter of Desert King (Danehill), who was also the sire of a certain triple Melbourne Cup winner in Makybe Diva.
The gelding was bred by his original trainer, Maher, and the late Colin McKenna, out of a mare ironically named La Gazelle, whose best run in five was a second at Mount Gambier.
Half Yours won two of his first five starts, but after McKenna’s death last year, was auctioned on Inglis Online in an unreserved reduction. McEvoy Mitchell Racing and Belmont Bloodstock went hard to purchase him, paying $305,000, with Maher the underbidder as he unsuccessfully tried to keep the budding stayer in his stable.
The McEvoys’ insistence was soon repaid, with wins at Seymour and Rosehill followed by a paralysing finish when Half Yours stepped beyond 2000 metres for the first time to stroll home in July’s Caloundra Cup (Listed, 2400m) by 4.45 lengths.
After easily winning the Naturalism Stakes (Gr 3, 2000m) at Caulfield two starts earlier, on Saturday he brought his trainers, and his second ownership team, a $3.3 million windfall.
“This is why we do it, to have a runner in these, and they’re bloody hard to win, and that was incredible,” said Tony McEvoy, whose previous best in a Caulfield Cup was second with the remarkable Fields Of Omagh (Rubiton) in 2002.
“He’s come a long way in six months this fellow, hasn’t he? And travelling really grows horses up, and he was a big raw horse.
“The way he came into the paddock today, he looked like he’d arrived as a stayer. And then he went and did that today, so it was very exciting.
“I was so happy in the run, and then when mid-race that horse took off, I thought, ‘This is not ideal’, because if someone panics, it dishevels everything.
“But then he got into his rhythm and did the rest. It was fabulous, and I’m looking forward to watching it again.”
Calvin McEvoy choked up when describing the feeling of winning one of Australia’s most important races with his father.
“In this game it’s really hard to get a start, and obviously I’m lucky to be in a privileged position,” he said. “I don’t know what to say. He’s supported me and given me an opportunity in this great game.”
His father joked back: “I think he might be nice to me for a little while now!”
“It’s very important,” McEvoy Snr added. “It’s quite a proud moment for me to be able to do it with Cal, and yeah, it’s a really enjoyable moment for me.
“I mean, I was hoping he was going to be a doctor or something, but look, it was such a joy for me, for him to want to follow in my footsteps. In this business, you don’t own many things. What you’ve got is your intellectual property, and if you’ve got no one to pass it to, it’s gone.
“And so to have Cal seeing what I’ve done over my time and now take it to another level, and he’s added an immense arm to the business with the technology that they’ve got today. I’m a bit too old school myself for that stuff, so that’s what’s made us better.”
McEvoy Jnr added: “The horse has been a horse that we’ve found really easy, and when we went to Queensland, it was the making of him.”
Melham was also highly emotional after her pressure-relieving victory, following weeks in which Half Yours was a dominant favourite for the race.
“I’ve tried not to think about it for the last few days because I just wanted to come out here and ride him and give him the best ride I could, because I knew he was the best horse in the race,” she said.
“But everything was perfect. It worked out perfectly for him and he had to dig deep and he’s an absolute superstar horse. What Tony and Calvin have done with him, they’ve just made this absolute professional of a horse.
“He’s push button; he doesn’t like jumping that well so I had to really get up him today, and he just spat the bit out and relaxed.
“Janice [McKenna, Col’s widow] texted me yesterday and said she’d make sure Col would open those gaps for me, and he did, so thank you Col.”
Asked about winning a major, Melham said: “Just saying ‘Caulfield Cup’ is going to make me cry.
“I’ve had an incredible career and ridden 17 Group 1s now, but that major has eluded me, and I just wanted to get one.
“But now I want maybe three more, maybe a Melbourne Cup. This horse is going to run the trip out!”
As obscure as they are, he certainly has the bloodlines for it.
French raider Presage Nocturne (Wootton Bassett) rounded out a monster first four dividend at $61, in a tremendous trial for his main target, the Melbourne Cup.
Maher’s Royal Supremacy (Make Believe) was solid in running fifth as $8.50 equal second favourite, while Ireland’s regular Cups raider Absurde (Fastnet Rock) was seventh in a strong trial for Flemington.
Market fancies Deakin (Australia), Meydaan (Frankel) and Middle Earth (Roaring Lion) looked a shade disappointing in finishing in midfield, with co-second favourite Vauban (Galiway) and Japanese Raider Golden Snap (Gold Ship) failing on the good 4 track in finishing 13th and 14th.