Jamie Spencer: Melbourne Cup was a stupid race in terms of pace

The Melbourne Cup this morning was a stupid race in terms of pace, and I actually think Big Orange ran remarkably well to finish where he did.

He was obviously near the lead all the way round and, to his credit, he stuck on up the straight. Everything else that raced as prominently as we did fell out the back of the TV.

I have never ridden in another race where they have gone too fast for too long. Leading was never an option for me, and even when I was sitting in fifth I knew in my heart of hearts that I was still going too quick.

But he is not the kind of horse that you can drop out the back, as he doesn’t have the pace to make up ground.

The problem was that everyone wanted to be on the pace, so no-one was going to get a comfortable early lead.

There was a Williams and Godolphin horse up there all the way, as well as the Japanese horse, and the unrelenting tempo of the race meant that everything happened from off the pace, as you saw. And when they race that quickly throughout, every ounce counts.

Everything was in place for Big Orange to run a big race today, but circumstances dictated that it simply wasn’t his day.