James McDonald and Melbourne Cup favourite Yucatan's horror drawGETTY IMAGES James McDonald celebrates a victory aboard Shillelagh in the Empire Rose Stakes at Flemington on Saturday. If James McDonald is going to win his first Melbourne Cup, he's going to need to work some magic. The Kiwi jockey will ride Cup favourite Yucatan, trained by Irishman Aidan O'Brien, in Tuesday's A$7.3 million ($7.9m NZD) Melbourne Cup (3200 metres) at Flemington. But Williams, who alongside his father Lloyd Williams, has been involved in the last two Cup winners Almandin and Rekindling, was not going to lose much sleep over the draw. McDonald, who missed last year's Melbourne Cup because of his ban for betting, has never won the Cup.

Source: Stuff November 03, 2018 22:30 UTC