Then in 2011, he had two starters, Moyenne Corniche and Saptapadi, but they both drew outside and could not finish closer than 19th and 20th behind the winner Dunaden.
However the grinning Ellison said those experiences were in the past as he declared Onesmoothoperator better than his previous entrants.
The Brian Ellison trained-stayer is based at WerribeeCredit: Getty Images
He would not have made the trip otherwise as he already knows the risks from bitter experience.
“I’ve been here a few times and had a few bits of bad luck, but this horse has been brilliant,” Ellison said.
“I said to Craig [Williams], ‘He’s not your normal stayer, he’s got lots of speed.’
“He’s got a good turn of foot and [Williams] gave him a great ride.
“You’ve just got to put your head down and keep checking on. Everybody has bad luck. So anyway, I know I’ve got a good horse.”
The horse’s owner Patrick Doyle, also from Yorkshire, joked he had come to Australia as the tight-lipped Ellison’s interpreter, described the win as his biggest. If he could win the Melbourne Cup, he would not know what to think.
“You can’t take anything for granted at all,” Doyle said.
“This year he has been on song, he really has.”
That they rated Onesmoothoperator good enough to bring him out to race on grass tracks given his only previously wins were on synthetic tracks is testament to the respect they have for his ability and their constant hope that the grass will one day prove greener. They took heart from finishing four lengths behind last year’s Caulfield-Melbourne Cup winner Without a Fight back in 2022 and decided you only live once.
Three International entrants – Media Puzzle in 2002, Americain in 2010 and Dunaden – won the Melbourne Cup after victory in the Geelong Cup so no-one was discounting Onesmoothoperator’s chances of joining that honour roll.
