{"id":951933,"date":"2026-11-04T05:38:12","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T05:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/951933\/"},"modified":"2026-11-04T05:38:12","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T05:38:12","slug":"melbourne-cup-news-2026-jockey-ben-allen-banned-and-fined-for-royal-supremacy-ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/951933\/","title":{"rendered":"Melbourne Cup news 2026, jockey Ben Allen banned and fined for Royal Supremacy ride"},"content":{"rendered":"

The jockey<\/a> who stunned the Melbourne Cup<\/a> before finishing fifth in Tuesday\u2019s great race has copped a fine and suspension for his bold ride.<\/p>\n

Ben Allen was aboard Royal Supremacy ($51) and took his mount to the front of the field, before shooting out to an astonishing lead midway through the 3200m race.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Royal Supremacy leads the Melbourne Cup field by 20 lengths.\u00a0Nine<\/p>\n

At one point he led the field by 20 lengths, while punters and commentators watched on in stunned disbelief at what was unfolding.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Royal Supremacy ran out of gas and was swamped late, with Ciaron Maher stablemates Point Of Law, Zahrann, and Juja Kibo claiming the trifecta<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Allen and Royal Supremacy did well to finish fifth, also behind Jospeh O\u2019Brien galloper Sons And Lovers.<\/p>\n

But Racing Victoria took exception to Allen\u2019s ride, and in particular his whip use throughout the race.<\/p>\n

Stewards found Allen had whipped Royal Supremacy too many times \u2013 a total of 10 times prior to the final 100m and 12 times in total.<\/p>\n

Allen has been hit with a $5000 fine and a 16-race suspension, which will begin on Friday and end on November 20.<\/p>\n

It means he will be able to ride at Flemington again on Thursday, where he has two rides for the day but none in the Crown Oaks (2500m).<\/p>\n

Stewards also probed Allen on his riding tactics, and he denied it was a pre-race plan to lead by such a margin.<\/p>\n

\u201cAllen explained that the primary plan was to ride the horse with cover behind the leader, which he expected to be Kizlyar,\u201d a post-race stewards statement said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Kizlyar did not muster speed as he expected, rather than restrain his mount, he allowed the horse to stride forward and lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cAllen added that previously Royal Supremacy raced successfully when leading at Eagle Farm on 13 June 2026, so he was not concerned when he was unable to obtain cover.<\/p>\n

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The winning moment of the 2026 Melbourne Cup, with Royal Supremacy finishing fifth.\u00a0Nine<\/p>\n

\u201cAllen added that he expressed surprise at how far in front he was, as he felt the sectionals he set were not quick.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some might suggest Allen\u2019s puzzling tactic was designed to benefit Maher\u2019s other runners.<\/p>\n

But speaking after the race, Allen himself said it was \u201cnot the plan\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was surprised when I looked back how far off they were as I didn\u2019t think we\u2019d gone that sort of gallop, but he was very tough,\u201d the jockey said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way he ran it, he ran a strong two-mile. Very game in defeat.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The jockey who stunned the Melbourne Cup before finishing fifth in Tuesday\u2019s great race has copped a fine…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":951934,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,85],"class_list":["post-951933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=951933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/951934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=951933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=951933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=951933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}