It was an event for the ages, as the ‘race that stops a nation’ was held behind closed doors for the very first time. Although there were no fashions of the field or the candid drunken photos to enjoy, the race didn’t fail to whip up storylines and talking points.

The race itself had a stunning finish with eight-year-old Twilight Payment and jockey Jye McNeil winning the $8 million in prize money and pulling off a massive upset over favourites Tiger Moth and Price of Arran.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t all the cup had to offer and certainly wasn’t the most significant talking point.

News broke after the race that one of the favourites, Anthony Van Dyck, had been euthanized after pulling up an injury in the race. Anthony Van Dyck suffered a fractured fetlock, with veterinarians determining that the horse could not be saved.

It’s the seventh horse to die from injuries sustained in or directly after the cup in the past seven years.

Increasing the talk of animal cruelty, Kerrin McEvoy, jockey of Tiger Moth, was fined $50,000AUD for excessive whip use.

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