Lloyd Williams has won the Caulfield Cup for the first time with Fawkner claiming victory in the 2013 edition of the race from a fast-finishing Dandino and a brave Dear Demi.

Fawkner wins the 2013 Caulfield Cup. Photo: Race Horse Photos Australia

Nick Hall gave the Reset gelding a brilliant ride into the race and he swooped down the outside to record a comfortable victory.

The Macedon Lodge team had the opportunity to enter several of their star stayers for the event but decided that Fawkner would be their only runner and they were always confident that the versatile galloper would be able to run out the testing 2400 metre trip of the Caulfield Cup.

Nick Williams said that his father almost sold Fawkner after he finished second in the Group 1 Emirates Stakes (1600m) last year but after the proposed buyer was unable to produce the cash had a change of heart and decided to set the versatile galloper for the Caulfield Cup.

“We were worried that he was handicapped out of the big miles in the country because he had a great spring last year and Dad said I’m glad the bloke didn’t pay – we are going to win the Caulfield Cup with this horse,” Williams said after the race.

“We are pretty big on setting horses for their Grand Final and this was this horses Grand Final and he has done a great job.

“I think this is the hardest race to win in Australia; it is a lot harder to get a horse to the Melbourne Cup but just by nature of the way this race is run there are always a lot of hard luck stories.

“It is a very hard race to win and we have had a lot of runners in it over the years and it is great that we managed to win it.”

Nick Hall produced the ride of his life; sending Fawkner through some very tight gaps between horses to angle the gelding out and produce his finishing burst at the ideal moment.

Hall was delighted to record his seventh win at Group 1 level and especially pleased to claim one of the few races that his father Greg Hall was unable to win in his stellar riding career.

“We have got one more in the trophy cabinet that the Williams family doesn’t have and I have one up on my old man so it was an important one,” Hall said.

“He is such a special horse to me and they have prepared him to the second.

“He has produced it today, there were doubters in the distance, but in the back of our minds we were always very optimistic.”

Hall said that he was full of confidence during the run and his plan to follow Nash Rawiller on Royal Descent into the race paid off in spades.

“I was just loving it; I found a perfect spot and I was following Nash everywhere and when I produced I knew that we were going to be the strongest horse hitting the line,” Hall said.

“It is a good day, a very good day.”

As usual in the Caulfield Cup there were plenty of hard-luck stories and a number of horses that stamped themselves as leading contenders for the Melbourne Cup.

Dandino was given too difficult an assignment from the back of the field but flew home in the final stages of the race in what was a magnificent trial for the Melbourne Cup.

Imported stayer Jet Away was going into the race with just one lead-up run in the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes (2000m) and battled on strongly after Damien Oliver made his move with almost 800 metres left in the race – nullifying the impressive turn-of-foot that the son of Cape Cross posses

Royal Descent and Silent Achiever both had their chance but lacked the turn-of-foot of the winner while Hawkspur never played a factor in the finish from the back of the field.

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2013 Caulfield Cup Results and Finishing Order