When Vintage Crop won the Melbourne Cup in 1993 it was huge for the sport.
A winner trained in the Northern Hemisphere, Vintage Crop and trainer Dermot Weld were trailblazers. On board was not a local jockey, but great of the game in Ireland and the UK, Michael Kinane.
Check out more about the multiple Group 1 winner and his huge success in Melbourne.
About Mick Kinane
Michael J Kinane was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, in 1959. During a stunning 34-year riding career which finished in late 2009, he won countless Group 1 races around the world.
Kinane was associated with Dermot Weld as stable jockey. He was later to become retained rider for Ballydoyle, riding many big-race winners for trainer Aidan O’Brien.
Two of the greatest Derby winners of all time, since two of the most important sires to have ever lived, were both ridden to victory at Epsom by Kinane; Galileo in 2001 and Sea The Stars in 2009.
Kinane won dozens of top-level races. His win on Vintage Crop in the 1993 Melbourne Cup ranks among the very best of them.
Melbourne Cup Achievements
Mick Kinane was neither a jockey afraid of travelling abroad, nor one who needed the journey. If he was called upon by Dermot Weld, Aidan O’Brien or any other major trainer, he’d be on hand to offer is near incomparable skills and insight.
He did head to the Melbourne Cup in 1993 as part of Weld’s ambitious plans to attempt to win the race. Win the race they did.
Mick Kinane’s Melbourne Cup Win
Up to this point, no horse from Europe had won the Melbourne Cup.
Vintage Crop was a fine horse who’d won both the Curragh Cup and the Irish St Leger. Trainer Dermot Weld then embarked on an ambitious trip down under to attempt the Melbourne Cup, without the need for a lead-up race.
The track at Flemington was soaked after plenty of overnight rain. Vintage Crop went off at 14/1, given that local racegoers were unsure of his form but wary of the fact he’d travelled so far.
Gai Waterhouse’s Te Aku Nick was in front at the 300. Vintage Crop began a fine run under Mick Kinane in full flight, eating up the ground late on. Vintage Crop got there, making history under Kinane in the process with Te Aku Nick holding on for second place.
A major reason for the breakthrough race was Kinane’s jockeyship. Vintage Crop’s success then opened the door to the Melbourne Cup for European challengers, plenty attempting the race since and a number of them winning it.
