King’s former horse storms to £5 million Melbourne Cup favouritism

Point Of Law, winner of the Bahrain Trophy in the royal silks in July, earned a ‘golden ticket’ for next month’s big race after triumphing on his Australian debut

Point Of Law (right) defeats the Joseph O'Brien pair Small Fry (centre) and Omni Man in the Geelong Cup(Image: Getty Images)

A horse owned by the King and Queen until August this year is the new favourite for the £5 million Lexus Melbourne Cup.

Point Of Law, a son of Frankel who was bred by King Charles, won two of his four starts in the royal colours while trained by John and Thady Gosden.

He finished an unlucky fourth at Royal Ascot then landed the Group 3 Bahrain Trophy at Newmarket in July to set up a potential crack at the St Leger. However that plan was abandoned when the colt was sold to a syndicate of Australian owners to join the stable of Ciaron Maher.

At the time royal racing advisor John Warren said: “I’m sure Their Majesties will derive great pleasure following Point Of Law’s continued career in Australia.

“Like all owner-breeders the majority of their colts eventually do get sold on and the King and Queen will be wishing Ciaron Maher and the new owners the best of luck for an exciting future ahead.”

On Wednesday in his new colours Point Of Law earned the ninth Golden Ticket into the Melbourne Cup, which guarantees a starting place, when staying on to land the £250,000 Geelong Cup at Geelong.

Point Of Law: won the Bahrain Trophy for the King and Queen(Image: Getty Images)

Ridden by Ethan Brown, he beat home Joseph O'Brien-trained duo Small Fry and Omni Man. The victory has propelled the gelding into favouritism for the Lexus Melbourne Cup which will be run in 13 days at Flemington. He is now 7-1 favourite with William Hill for the November 3 showpiece.

Maher saddled the King and Queen’s Gilded Water to finish second in the race 12 months ago.

"I've run second a number of times," Maher said. "It's great to win, but it's great to win it with such a progressive horse. "He's just a good horse. It was a beautiful ride by Brownie and hopefully he pulls up well, because he looks like he'll run two-mile."

Ethan Brown celebrates on Point Of Law(Image: Getty Images)

Brown said: "From the gate, it couldn't have worked out any better. There was a bit of pressure early where I thought at one stage I was going to take it up, but I didn't want to wind him up too much knowing that he gets keen.

"I had to be more of a horseman on him and work with him rather than worrying about trying to bang him into a spot and do something quickly.

"I just allowed him to find his rhythm, bring him back outside the leader where he settled really well and although it was a strong gallop, I wasn't worried about it.

"Ciaron told me the other day he galloped four laps when the rider couldn't pull him up at Werribee, so I knew he'd sustain a gallop. He's going to go to the Cup as a huge chance from what I felt today."