The powerful Godolphin Racing Empire collected its second win in the Group 1 $5m Stella Artois Caulfield Cup (2400m) at Caulfield today with Best Solution winning by nose.

Best Solution, above in royal blue colours on the inside of Homesman, blue with white armbands, scores a nose win in the 2018 Caulfield Cup at Caulfield. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.

Best Solution, above in royal blue colours on the inside of Homesman, blue with white armbands, scores a nose win in the 2018 Caulfield Cup at Caulfield. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.

Trainer Saeed Bin Suroor saddled up All The Good to win the 2008 Caulfield Cup with Kerrin McEvoy in the saddle and today English based Irish jockey Pat Cosgrave produced the ride of his life to collect the winning prize.

Best Solution ($12) had to overcome barrier fifteen in the eighteen horse field as well as carry the top weight of 57.5kg but was able to repel the efforts of the runner up Homesman ($9.50) to get the judge’s decision in a tight photo finish.

The Aidan O’Brien trained The Cliffsofmoher ($6.50) also ran a mighty race to claim third spot for Hugh Bowman.

Best Solution was coming off two Group 1 wins in Germany and carried that winning form into the Caulfield Cup with some daring tactics from Cosgrave.

Damien Oliver set a steady pace up from on Ace High ($19) until the 1000m when Cosgrave decided to make his move and Best Solution followed The Tal Mahal ($16) to the front at the 600m and then continued on to lead the field into the straight.

Cosgrave stuck to the fence in the run home and even though Homesman seemed to have his measure, Best Solution was able to carry the famous Godolphin royal blue colours to victory.

Best Solution is now eligible to receive a penalty for the Group 1 $7.3m Lexus Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington on November 6 but Saeed Bin Suroor said that they would still consider running the multiple Group 1 winner in ‘The Race That Stops A Nation’ on the first Tuesday in November.

“The horse is going good and the Melbourne Cup is a big race and a dream for us,” Saeed Bin Suroor said.

“It is great to see Best Solution win after he won two Group 1s in Germany.”

Cosgrave gave all credit to the horse and said nothing went right for during the race.

“He should have got beat,” Cosgrave said.

“I had such a bad trip. Everything went wrong for me. It’s a great day.”

Best Solution is now a $12 chance along with The Cliffsofmoher at Ladbrokes.com.au for the Melbourne Cup.

The Darren Weir trained $5.50 favourite Kings Will Dream struck trouble shortly after the start before settling midfield and still tried hard in the straight to finish sixth just ahead of the Chris Waller trained Youngstar ($7.50) in seventh spot.

About The Author

Mark Mazzaglia

Mark is a passionate journalist with a life-time involvement in the racing industry. He spent many years as an analyst and form expert at the Courier Mail and also has hands-on experience working with some of Queensland’s top trainers.