Point Of Law Wins Melbourne Cup as Maher Trains Historic Trifecta: Full Results, Dividends and What Happens Next

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Who won the Melbourne Cup, and how did he win it?

Point Of Law won the 2026 Melbourne Cup at Flemington on Tuesday 3 November, in the 166th running of the race that stops a nation. The Ciaron Maher trained favourite, ridden by Ethan Brown, won by 3.75 lengths from stablemate Zahrann, with another Maher runner, Juja Kibo, third, just 0.06 lengths further back. Sons And Lovers, trained by Joseph O'Brien, finished fourth, 5.06 lengths behind the winner. The winning time was 3 minutes 21.88 seconds for 3,200 metres, on a track rated Soft 5 at Flemington, for a prize pool of 10.2 million Australian dollars, including 4.5 million dollars for the winner.

The race took an unusual shape, and that shape is why it will be remembered. Royal Supremacy, an outsider also trained by Maher and ridden by Ben Allen, went straight to the front and opened up a lead of about 15 lengths. The rest of the field let him go, and he was still well clear turning into the straight. Brown kept Point Of Law calm in the chasing pack, waited for clear running, and once the favourite found it, he swept past the leader and pulled away. Brown said afterwards that Point Of Law had the best turn of foot in the race, and that he had to stay cool, cut the bend, and once he got clear running, he was too good. Royal Supremacy held on gamely for fifth, which was a strong effort after his 15th place in the Caulfield Cup, and it meant Maher trained five of the first six home, with Shockletz sixth as well.

Point Of Law won in just his sixth career start, and only his second start in Australia, after winning the Geelong Cup a fortnight earlier. That Geelong Cup win earned him a ballot free start in the Cup and a 2 kilogram penalty that lifted his weight to 53 kilograms, and he carried that extra weight to victory in his first race over 3,200 metres. He was bred and raced by King Charles III and Queen Camilla in Britain, trained in England by John and Thady Gosden, and sold for a figure reportedly north of 3 million Australian dollars after his Bahrain Trophy win in July, according to Fox Sports. The new ownership group sent him to Maher, and he has now won 5,910,000 dollars in his two Australian starts, not counting his future breeding value, which has now skyrocketed. That is a remarkable return in two runs, and it is why Maher said after the race: "It has been a whirlwind, really. To get three horses in the first three spots. I do not even know where the rest finished yet, but I am very proud of the team."

Why is the Maher trifecta historic?

Ciaron Maher became the first trainer in the 166 year history of the Melbourne Cup to train the first three place getters. That sentence is worth pausing on, because the Cup has been run since 1861, and no trainer in all that time had ever swept the podium before today. Maher saddled a record seven runners in this year's Cup, and five of the first six finishers were his: Point Of Law first, Zahrann second, Juja Kibo third, Royal Supremacy fifth, and Shockletz sixth. Middle Earth finished 10th, and Mr Monaco finished 17th, so all seven of his runners finished in the top 17, which is a dominance that goes far beyond the trifecta alone.

Maher won Australia's greatest race for the second time, after Gold Trip in 2022, according to Sportstralia. He also had the favourite and the numbers, while Joseph O'Brien had five runners, including the second favourite Trustyourinstinct, and together Maher and O'Brien trained 12 of the 24 original runners, which is half the field. In the end, Maher trained the winner, O'Brien trained the fourth horse, and the race was a trainers race as much as a horses race, just as the preview suggested. Maher's post race emotion said it all. He said: "I have got my mum and dad here. For her to be here and win the biggest race in the country, one of the biggest in the world, it is pretty special." He also admitted he did not know Royal Supremacy would lead by that far, but added: "Nothing is better than a true staying test and Point Of Law just thrived."

For Brown, this was a first Melbourne Cup win, and it came a year after he finished third on Middle Earth in his first Cup ride, according to Sportstralia, and after a comeback story that makes the win even more powerful. Brown almost lost his life in a race fall at Flemington in 2023, when he fell from Maximillius in the Australian Guineas. He lost over five litres of blood, suffered a lacerated liver, a damaged kidney, three fractured vertebrae and a severed artery, and he told Channel 9 after the race that he was inches from death. He was back in the saddle by the end of that year, and he has since become one of Victoria's leading riders. After the Cup he said: "Please do not wake me up. It is an amazing feeling." He also said Maher had talked him out of horse training and supported and backed him as a jockey, which makes the Maher and Brown combination a story of trust as well as talent.

What is the full finishing order?

The field went down to 23 runners on race morning, after Asterix was scratched, which is covered below. The full finishing order, with barriers and margins from the winner, is below, from Sportstralia's results, cross checked against Fox Sports and Racenet.

| Finish | Horse | Trainer | Barrier | Margin | | 1 | Point Of Law | Ciaron Maher | 9 | Winner | | 2 | Zahrann | Ciaron Maher | 11 | 3.75 lengths | | 3 | Juja Kibo | Ciaron Maher | 14 | 3.81 lengths | | 4 | Sons And Lovers | Joseph O'Brien | 3 | 5.06 lengths | | 5 | Royal Supremacy | Ciaron Maher | 21 | 5.16 lengths | | 6 | Shockletz | Ciaron Maher | 17 | 5.56 lengths | | 7 | James J Braddock | Joseph O'Brien | 24 | 6.06 lengths | | 8 | So You Are | Bjorn Baker | 7 | 6.41 lengths | | 9 | Hopewell Rock | George Boughey | 15 | 6.66 lengths | | 10 | Middle Earth | Ciaron Maher | 1 | 7.41 lengths | | 11 | Trustyourinstinct | Joseph O'Brien | 18 | 7.71 lengths | | 12 | Knight's Choice | John Symons and Sheila Laxon | 2 | 8.01 lengths | | 13 | Soul Of Spain | Chris Waller | 5 | 9.01 lengths | | 14 | Zakouma | Grahame Begg | 10 | 10.51 lengths | | 15 | Enfjaar | Roger Varian | 8 | 13.26 lengths | | 16 | Kizlyar | Joseph O'Brien | 20 | 14.26 lengths | | 17 | Mr Monaco | Ciaron Maher | 16 | 14.41 lengths | | 18 | Strictly Business | Thomas Carberry | 4 | 16.91 lengths | | 19 | Wine Dark Sea | Harry Charlton | 23 | 19.66 lengths | | 20 | Future History | Gregory Hickman | 12 | 20.91 lengths | | 21 | Onesmoothoperator | Tim Fitzsimmons | 13 | 23.41 lengths | | 22 | Goodie Two Shoes | Joseph O'Brien | 19 | 25.66 lengths | | 23 | Vauban | Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott | 22 | 30.16 lengths |

Three results in that order deserve extra attention. Hopewell Rock, the English runner who had firmed into favouritism on race morning and reclaimed betting favouritism in the last 15 minutes before the race according to Fox Sports, finished ninth. Trustyourinstinct, the main European hope and the second favourite in most previews, finished 11th, and the barrier 18 hoodoo survived, because barrier 18 has still never produced a Melbourne Cup winner. Goodie Two Shoes, last year's runner up, finished 22nd, which shows how hard this race is even for a proven Cup horse. At the other end, James J Braddock did well to finish seventh from the widest gate, barrier 24, and Knight's Choice, the 2024 winner, finished 12th after a poor Caulfield Cup run.

The dividends, from the One Pool exotics published by Sportstralia, were: Quinella 141.00 dollars, Exacta 239.60 dollars, Trifecta 2,644.50 dollars, and First Four 50,275.10 dollars. Those figures are for the One Pool, and they show how hard the trifecta was to find even with Maher dominating, because the exact order of the first three, and the fourth horse Sons And Lovers, was not the obvious order in the betting. A punter who backed Point Of Law to win collected on the favourite, but a punter who found the trifecta in order collected a very healthy return.

Why was Asterix scratched, and why did Coffey ride?

Two race morning stories shaped the Cup before it even started, and both deserve to be told properly. First, Asterix was scratched at 10:33am on race morning, after Racing Victoria stewards found that Penetrene, a topical anti inflammatory liniment, had been applied to both of his forelegs in his stable on race morning. The application of Penetrene on raceday is prohibited, because any substance administered to a horse on raceday, including a topical application, is considered a medication under the Australian Rules of Racing. Stewards ordered the withdrawal under rule 249 (3), after taking evidence from trainer Chris Waller, members of his stable staff, Racing Victoria compliance staff, and the regulatory veterinarian.

Waller was fined 50,000 dollars, and he owned up to what he called a simple mistake. He told News Corp: "The horse gets the same treatment every day, it is a very basic liniment most stables use and I guess the pressure of race day, the person that looks after the horse, put it on his legs right in front of the security guard, nothing to hide." Chief steward Rob Montgomery admitted the stable's error was a mistake and took into account Waller's outstanding record with stewards. Asterix was a 51 dollar chance, to be ridden by Jye McNeil, a former Cup winner on Twilight Payment in 2020, so his scratching did not change the favourite's chances, but it reduced the field to 23 runners and it reminded everyone that raceday rules apply even to a basic liniment, and even when nothing is hidden.

Second, Harry Coffey rode Shockletz to sixth place just over 48 hours after breaking his collarbone in a fall on Derby Day. Coffey fell from Pondalowie in the Empire Rose Stakes on Saturday, was taken to Royal Melbourne Hospital for scans, and had surgery on Sunday morning to stabilise the fracture. On Monday afternoon he received medical clearances from orthopaedic surgeon Dr Andrew Oppy and Racing Victoria chief medical officer Dr Ben Barresi to ride on Tuesday. Maher did not find a replacement, because he wanted to give Coffey, the horse's regular jockey, every chance to prove his fitness. Coffey told Channel 9: "I do not know if I am the miracle man. The team who worked on me are." He finished sixth on Shockletz, which was a remarkable effort, and Maher said: "She is weighted to win the race, she has got good soft track form and weight comes into it more when the track is affected by rain." Coffey's ride will be remembered as one of the bravest in Cup history, even though he did not win.

What happens next in Australian racing?

The Melbourne Cup Carnival continues at Flemington, with Oaks Day on Thursday 5 November and Champions Stakes Day on Saturday 7 November, according to the carnival calendar used in earlier Of The Pitch posts. Oaks Day is the traditional ladies day of the carnival, with the Group 1 Oaks for three year old fillies over 2,500 metres as the feature, and Champions Stakes Day closes the carnival with the Champions Sprint, Champions Mile and Champions Stakes, all Group 1 races. For fans who followed the Cup, the carnival is not over, and the next question is whether Point Of Law stays in Australia for a longer campaign, or whether his future is now as a stallion, given his breeding value after today.

For Maher, the question is what he does next with a horse who has won two from two in Australia and who has just won the biggest race in the country in only his sixth start. For Brown, the question is whether this Cup win changes his career, and the answer is almost certainly yes, because a Melbourne Cup win is the one result every Australian jockey dreams of, and Brown has now achieved it after nearly losing his life at the same track three years ago. For the wider racing world, the question is whether Maher's trifecta can ever be repeated. It took 166 years for the first one, and it took a trainer with seven runners, a favourite with a perfect draw, and a race run at a true staying test to do it. That combination may not come again for a long time, which is why today will be talked about for years.

For readers in the UK, Europe and North America, the practical lesson is simpler. The Melbourne Cup is not just a race, it is a carnival, a public holiday in metropolitan Melbourne, and a race that stops a nation at 15:00 Australian Eastern Daylight Time. If you want to watch it live next year, set your alarm for 04:00 London time, 05:00 Berlin and Paris time, 23:00 the night before in New York, and 09:00 in Karachi, because the race itself lasts only about three and a half minutes, and there is no second chance to catch it live. This year, those who set the alarm saw history. They saw a favourite win, a trainer make history, a jockey complete a comeback, and a race run in a shape no one predicted. That is why the Cup stops a nation, and why it will do so again next year.

Related live posts: Melbourne Cup 2026 Final Preview: Point Of Law Favourite, Trustyourinstinct Threat and Start Times by Country, and Sovereignty Wins the Breeders Cup Classic, Retires a Champion, and the Melbourne Cup Field Is Set.

Sources: Fox Sports Australia, Melbourne Cup results 2026: Point of Law wins as Ciaron Maher trains trifecta, 3 November 2026; Sportstralia, Melbourne Cup 2026 Results: Point Of Law Wins at Flemington, 3 November 2026; ABC Melbourne Cup live blog, 3 November 2026, via Sportstralia; Racing Victoria stewards statement on Asterix withdrawal, 3 November 2026, via Fox Sports; Channel 9 post race interviews with Ciaron Maher, Ethan Brown and Harry Coffey, 3 November 2026.