Twilight Payment pockets $5.5 million

Irish raider Twilight Payment won the coveted Aus $8.0 million (US$5.5 million) Melbourne Cup on Tuesday in a race run without spectators and marred by the death of English Derby winner Anthony Van Dyck.

With Jye McNeil in the saddle, the eight-year-old gelding held off a charging Tiger Moth and Prince of Arran in a thrilling finish to the gruelling 3,200-meter (two mile) handicap, considered the ultimate test of stamina and staying power.

But Anthony Van Dyck, one of the pre-race favorites at Flemington, broke down with a leg injury and was later put down – the seventh Melbourne Cup horse to perish on race day since 2013.

McNeil, one of the rising stars of the sport, triumphed in his maiden Melbourne Cup, which was held behind closed doors for the first time because of the coronavirus pandemic.