Robbie Dolan’s ride of a lifetime

Who would have suggested that one of the longest-priced winners in the history of the race would come from the clouds to score in a driving finish? 

Who would have imagined that the winner weaving his way through the field would be partnered by a rider who had barely competed in Victoria, let alone at Flemington, and who had never ridden in the Cup before? 

A rider who, eight years earlier, had left his native Ireland and come to Australia with a backpack and a heart full of hopes and dreams, desperate to carve out a career for himself in a country where he could find fresh opportunity denied in his homeland.  

Suddenly everyone knew about Dolan’s happenstance meeting with the trainers on a cruise ship a couple of years earlier when, unable to get rides in the Carnival, they heard him singing, something Dolan was briefly considering as a possible career alternative given his talents were good enough to see him reach the quarter finals of the national talent competition The Voice. 

He and Laxon, herself a history maker when she became the first female trainer to saddle Ethereal to win the Caulfield and Melbourne Cup double in 2001, struck up a friendship. 

To say he was bred for the job is an understatement. 

His father was a jockey and worked for the powerful Irish stable of Dermot Weld (the first European trainer to win the Melbourne Cup when he sent Vintage Crop from The Curragh to triumph in 1993). His grandfather Peader Matthews won Classic races in Ireland in the 1960s while his brother Barry is a trainer in the United States. 

Yet Dolan wasn’t a horse-obsessed youngster, only getting into racing in his teenage years when he was apprenticed to Curragh trainer Adrian Keatley.

Despite his pedigree, Dolan struggled to make an impact. He rode a handful of winners in five years before making the momentous decision to leave home. 

“I had about five winners in 100 rides in the time I was there. I wanted a change and decided to come over to Australia. 

“I was 20 when I left Ireland. I didn’t have any connections, I just came over with the intention of maybe staying for 12 months, getting a few rides and seeing what happened.” 

Even then his course wasn’t smooth. 

“I initially came to Melbourne, where I struggled to get a (rider’s) license. The system they have there only allows them to take in a certain number of apprentices, and I missed the deadline, so I ended up going to Sydney. 

“I was apprenticed to Mark Newnham (now in Hong Kong) and we had plenty of success together. 

“I was lucky enough to win two Group 1s in Sydney and I won the champion apprentices title twice. I had done a lot already with what I wanted to do with my career.” 

But like so many leading apprentices Dolan found the transition to senior ranks difficult. The rides dried up and success proved more elusive. 

“It is very tough. You no longer have the claim and it’s very difficult. 

“I just decided to make the move up to Brisbane for a change. I had found it tough for a little while to consistently get good rides in town. And mentally I wanted a change as well. Brisbane is very easygoing and it suited my lifestyle. 

“I just ride for everyone. You ride work, I have a manager that chases rides for me, I could work a bit harder, I know I could, but I think if you are riding well and riding winners, your riding will probably get you rides as well.” 

The most important things in his life now are Christine, who he met in Australia, and daughter Maisie, who spent weeks in hospital after such an early delivery. 

“She was born at 26 weeks, I think. It was worrying but she’s fine now, she’s good, she’s pretty tough. 

“You have to be happy in yourself. You can be successful and still miserable, you have to do what you want to do and makes your family happy, and that’s all that really matters in life.”