Point of Law wins the Melbourne Cup for Ciaron Maher

Point of Law has won the 2026 Melbourne Cup at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Australia. Ridden by Ethan Brown and trained by Ciaron Maher, the five-year-old gave Maher his second Melbourne Cup winner. The Guardian reported the result on 3 November.

The race is one of the biggest days on the Australian calendar, and it is run on the first Tuesday of November. It carries $10 million in prize money, and the whole country tends to stop for it. Flemington is known for its wide, grassy straight, and the crowd roars as the field turns for home.

Maher had a strong day in every sense. He ran seven horses in the race, which is a record for one trainer. He also trained the first three finishers, according to the Guardian. Zahrann finished second, and Juja Kibo, from Maher's stable, took third. Sons and Lovers, trained by Joseph O'Brien, came fourth.

The early story belonged to Royal Supremacy, another Maher runner. At one stage he led the field by about 20 lengths, a long way in front of the pack. Racing rarely stays that way for a full two miles, and the chasers came back at him as the race wore on.

Point of Law has a route to Melbourne that is worth knowing about. Earlier this year he won the Bahrain Trophy, a Group 3 race at Newmarket in England, in July. Group 3 is the third tier of official Flat racing races in Britain and Ireland, and it is a high-class prize. In August, an Australian syndicate bought the horse from King Charles, the British monarch, who had bred and raced him.

Point of Law's ticket to Flemington came in October. He won the Geelong Cup, which the Victoria Racing Club (VRC) says gave him the ninth golden ticket into the Melbourne Cup. A golden ticket is a place in the race earned through a qualifying race, and the VRC awards them each year. Before Tuesday, the VRC said he had won $393,110 in prize money.

Betting markets ahead of the race moved around as the field was finalised. Earlier Melbourne Cups have shown how hard the race is to call. In 2021, Incentivise went into the race as the hot favourite, according to Reuters, and the Australian-bred stayer did not win it. Stayers are horses bred and trained to handle long distances.

For the people who look after these horses, the win is the result of months of early starts, careful travel and long hours on the gallops. Point of Law's journey from Newmarket to Flemington shows how far a racehorse can travel for one race. Every runner in the field has its own team behind it, and most of them will never see the front of the pack.

Point of Law now has the chance to be remembered as one of the best of his era. Maher has trained more winners of the race than almost anyone, and his name is now linked with a record-breaking day. Trainers, owners and jockeys will talk about this result for months, and the next Cup is already being planned.