Zoe Moffatt
Living Legends has secured $50,000, after its horse from a tour national sweep, Without A Fight, stormed home to win this year’s Melbourne Cup by two lengths.
The 163rd running of the race that stops the nation ended with the seven-year-old Irish horse, trained by Anthony and Sam Freedman, dominating the home straight to secure the $8 million prize money.
Twenty four rural and regional Melbourne Cup tour destinations were allocated a starting gate for a registered charity of its choice for the national sweep.
One of those destinations was Macedon, which is home to famous equine property Macedon Lodge, where the Melbourne Cup trophy visited before the cup. Living Legends was Macedon’s charity of choice.
Living Legends chief executive Andrew Clarke was at Flemington Racecourse and said it was an amazing ride on Without A Fight by Zahra because he started from a wide barrier.
“I was thinking he’s looking good, and through he came and won. It was an unbelievable moment, it was very special,” he said.
“What was special is that he’d just won the Caulfield Cup… and one of our star horses, Might In Power, won the Caulfield Cup and then the Melbourne Cup 1997.
“That’s what Without A Fight had to do. So I took my Might In Power pin along and gave it a little rub before the race. It was pretty special.”
Mr Clarke said the $50,000 will be a big helping hand for Living Legends, which is home to many retired Melbourne Cup champions, especially coming out of COVID-19.
“Its a huge boost for our community program, the Learning with Legends and our community work” he said.
“The tour groups are strong this year but coming our of covid and with a wet summer our numbers were down a bit.
“I want to say a huge thank you to [Victoria Racing Club] and Mark Player and his team at the Macedon Lodge.”
Lodge general manager Mr Player said the community was over the moon with the result.
“The community is extremely excited with the result, and we are delighted to donate the $50,000 to our nominated charity Living Legends, an organisation that we are closely aligned with,” he said.
“Living Legends plays a unique and highly important role in our industry… and they provide so many people with real equine experiences on a daily basis.
“We are very excited to be able to support them in this way.”
