Melbourne Cup 2023: Kiwi jockey James McDonald up against one ...
Dianne McDonald has done what every owner and breeder dreams of, getting a runner in the Melbourne Cup. Yet she’ll be cheering for a rival horse at Flemington on Tuesday.
Her horse, $151 outsider Virtuous Circle (No 19), will be up against 23 other runners in this year’s Melbourne Cup, including 2022 winner Gold Trip who will have her superstar jockey son, James McDonald aboard.
Despite carrying the topweight of 58.5kg, Gold Trip is the third favourite as a $7 winning chance.
A Gold Trip victory might be monumentally more likely than a Virtuous Circle upset, but that’s not the reason Dianne will be cheering for the Ciaron Maher and David Eustace trained topweight.
Breeding and owning a winner would be magical, but Dianne McDonald doesn’t think it could compete with watching one of your children lift their second Melbourne Cup.
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James McDonald’s victory celebrations are almost as famous as his skills in the saddle.
“I will be cheering for Gold Trip, all the way,” Dianne McDonald told Racenet.
“My ultimate dream would be Gold Trip first, Virtuous Circle second.
“I went to bed the other night picturing it happening, picturing the colours of Gold Trip going over the line first and then Virtuous Circle running on for second.”
A Virtuous Circle victory or placing would dramatically improve the worth of her broodmare She Is Stryking but Dianne McDonald would be over the moon for her four-year-old Almanzor entire to run in the top-12 to bank some solid prizemoney.
While the winner’s connections collect a cool A$4.4 million (NZ$4.78m), and the runners-up A$1.1 million – those finishing sixth to 12th each receive A$160,000.
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James McDonald celebrates his 2021 Melbourne Cup victory with Verry Elleegant.
She also told Racenet that the thought of trying to get her son, who won the 2021 Melbourne Cup aboard champion mare Verry Elleegant, to ride Virtuous Circle never crossed her mind, because as a racing family, it was always accepted you ride the best horse in the race, regardless of who owned it.
Already a member of the New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame, James McDonald, regarded as one of the best in the business, was crowned World Jockey of the Year in 2021 and has won Group 1 races in New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong and England.
In the past fortnight McDonald won two of the biggest races on the Australian calendar: the WS Cox Plate aboard Hong Kong-trained Romantic Warrior, and the Victoria Derby aboard Riff Rocket trained by Sydney-based compatriot Chris Waller.
Born and raised in Waikato, and the son of a former jockey and trainer, Brett McDonald, James rode his first winner in 2007 and quickly rose to the top in New Zealand before crossing the Tasman to Sydney where he is still based.
Dianne McDonald says it's unbelievable how her son can handle pressure and she believes it’s a major contributor to his success.
“I think that's why he gets so emotional afterwards because his emotions are all bubbling inside him and when it comes off he can let it all out,” she told Racenet.
“But you would never know before the races that he is nervous or excited, he is just deadpan all the time.”
