Keeping it in the family: The horse with a shot at Melbourne Cup history

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Right You Are is somewhat of an anomaly in the Melbourne Cup.

Alongside Vow And Declare, the seven-year-old gelding is one of just two Australian-bred horses in this year’s race.

Michael Dee on Right You Are (right) at Caulfield last month.Credit: Getty Images

That fact doesn’t matter as much now. The slight discontent that was emerging five years ago about the internationals dominating dissipated after Vow And Declare’s 2019 victory.

But Right You Are’s parents remain an interesting part of the horse’s story. They were Melbourne Cup runners, too.

His trainer Ciaron Maher is certainly aware of that fact, musing when assessing the horse’s chances after the barrier draw that “there are not too many horses in the race where both their mother and the father ran in the Melbourne Cup”.

That fact alone doesn’t make Right You Are unique in Melbourne Cup history yet. VRC historian Andrew Lemon points out the quinella in the 1950 Melbourne Cup – Comic Court and Chicquita – had a son Comicquita, who ran second to Even Stevens in the 1962 Melbourne Cup. The Perth horse Manolive also ran in the 1938 Melbourne Cup following in the footsteps of his parents, Manfred (second in 1925) and Sister Olive (who won the 1921 Cup).

But Right You Are will have a unique position in the annals of the big race if he wins on Tuesday.

Right You Are’s sire So You Think is one of the greatest horses the country has produced, with his third placing in the 2010 Melbourne Cup occurring just weeks after he became a dual Cox Plate winner. The dam, Leica Ding, ran 14th as the bottom weight in the 2009 Melbourne Cup, running into a wall of horses halfway up the Flemington straight after winning a Geelong Cup. Sadly, Leica Ding passed away in 2021.

In August 2016, however, the pair’s union produced a leggy foal that part-owner Michael Wilson decided to name after an old English expression – one of his grandfather John’s favourite sayings.

Right You Are gradually worked through the grades before having a huge summer and autumn campaign where he won five out of six races including a Mornington Cup, his only defeat coming on a heavy track in the Easter Cup.

He was strong in the Underwood Stakes at Caulfield without threatening and was brave in the Caulfield Cup on the pace, finishing fifth in both outings but his run in the Turnbull Stakes at Flemington was just muddling. However, Maher rates him highly knowing any horse place 18 out of 26 starts is no mug with his two runs out to 2400 metres his highest rating runs.

“He’s had a brilliant prep. [He will be] midfield, get a bit of cover and I think he is a great chance,” Maher said.

His jockey John Allen has not sat on his back yet but is about to become the 10th jockey to ride him and the fifth in his past five starts when he lobs in his saddle on Tuesday. Allen will need to do some work over the next couple of days to make the 53 kilograms, but he is keen to see what the horse can produce.

“He is a fairly straightforward horse who normally races on speed,” Allen said. “I’ll have a good study and see if I can come up with a plan.”

Whatever the plan, Right You Are is literally following in his parents’ footsteps as he heads to the barrier for the 163rd running of the Melbourne Cup.

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