A heart-to-heart over a couple of beers with trainer Ciaron Maher about two years ago sowed the seeds for 27-year-old jockey Ethan Brown’s Melbourne Cup win on Point Of Law.
After nearly losing his life in a massive fall off Maximillius in the 2023 Australian Guineas, and a stop-start return to riding, Brown wondered whether he should continue in the toughest of capers.
The injuries were significant, and that was before the emotional toll was considered.
Brown suffered a grade-five lacerated liver and severed artery, damage to his right kidney, significant internal bleeding, and hairline fractures to three vertebrae in his lower back. He lost more than five litres of blood. The fall was in the March, and he returned to the races that August.
“By the time I got [back] to the races, I still wasn’t ready,” Brown said. “I was tricking myself into telling myself I was ready, so I rode for a month and thought, ‘I am not ready for this’, and took a step back. That was the stage I wondered whether I would get back.”
He contemplated training, but Maher – who became a trainer after a short-lived career as a jumps jockey – set him straight over a drink with Brown. The pair’s relationship went way back, with Brown riding the horse he learnt to ride on in Alice Springs, Here to There, to victory at Caulfield in 2017.
Maher told him he was a rider, not a trainer.
“He was very firm about that. He said, ‘You are delusional mate, get back riding’,” Brown said.
Brown took the advice on board, but still took time to commit.
“I woke up one morning. I was hungry again, and it was full-bore,” Brown said.
Maher – who on Tuesday became the first trainer to claim the Melbourne Cup trifecta with Point Of Law, Zahrann and Juja Kibo – had merely passed on the wisdom he had gathered over his time in the business, recognising Brown’s talent was as a rider, and backing him in.
“He’s a very dedicated man, and he was just a bit lost because he is a bit of an overthinker,” Maher said.
“I rode at a very low level, and it was the greatest time of my life just booting around with my mates and riding, and he was just a bit down, and he was going to be a trainer. I thought, ‘Riding is much more fun’ and I just told him my thoughts.”
A stint in Hong Kong gave Brown the confidence he needed to compete with the best, having grown up in Alice Springs where he started riding under Greg Connor before becoming an apprentice to Michael Kent. “He’s always been a grounded lad,” Connor said. “He still is.”
At the same time, he recognised that the only way of being a jockey was to devote himself to the craft, showing the same traits he revealed as a teenager when he modified his diet after being told he had heavy legs.
“I have just matured a lot in the last 12 months. Mentally I have grown up … staying quiet, not going out [and a] bit of sacrifice here and there. It has paid off,” Brown said. “When I came back it was like a switch, ‘I’m back to ride and that is all I am doing’. When you make those sorts of decisions you’re not half-hearted. You’re not back to just push around for your riding fee. It was, ‘I am going in full-bore’ and it was a moment like this I dreamt of, and it has happened.”
It didn’t just happen, though.
Brown had to choose between Point Of Law and his other potential mount, Zahrann, in the lead-up. It was not a call he took lightly, but he opted for Point Of Law due to the horse’s X-factor.
He then took on board Maher’s decisions to work Point Of Law hard to have him peaking for the race, finding the balance between being worked hard enough to relax in the run and fresh enough to quicken when called upon. Former hoop Simon Marshall, who has worked with him for 12 months, helped get him in the right frame of mind and if he needed further advice, his partner Celine Gaudray had ridden Torranzino to fifth place in the 2025 Melbourne Cup.
Brown had not ridden Point Of Law before the Geelong Cup, but he got off the horse in the winner’s stall and whispered to Maher it might be the best horse he has trained. Then he made early visits to Werribee to ride Point Of Law in trackwork, which gave him an understanding that he was on the best horse of the race. He could win as long as he could get him to settle in just his sixth race start.
He did it beautifully, timing his run to perfection as he reeled in, and then roared past, Royal Supremacy who looked to have opened up a winning lead entering the straight. With 350 metres remaining and Royal Supremacy still five lengths ahead, Brown knew it was all over.
“He quickened like a sprinter at the end of 3200. When he hit that top gear, I knew we had won,” Brown said.
The question of whether it was all worth it had been answered, and Brown was looking forward with a bank full of memories.
“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” he said.
His joy was contrary to that of Jye McNeill, who did not ride in the race after his Chris Waller mount Asterix was scratched on the morning of the race. Waller was fined $50,000 after a stablehand mistakenly administered the medication penetrene to both legs at the stable on Tuesday morning. Penetrene is generally allowed on horses, but it is banned on race day.
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