Twilight Payment wins Melbourne Cup

Irish horse Twilight Payment and rider Jye McNeil have won this year's Melbourne Cup, the sporting event known as the "race which stops a nation".

Twilight Payment led for most of the race.

The horse is owned by Lloyd Williams who has previously won the Cup six times with Just A Dash (1981), What A Nuisance (1985), Efficient (2007), Green Moon (2012), Almandin (2016) and Rekindling (2018).

In second place was Tiger Moth, also Irish, and third was Prince of Arran, a British horse.

This year's edition has been dominated by northern hemisphere horses.

Bookmakers had labelled this year's Cup field as one of the most open in years.

The 3200 metres race was run in front of stands empty of punters and fans due to Victoria's COVID-19 restrictions.

The Melbourne Cup is held every year at Flemington Racecourse on the first Tuesday of November and is one of the world's most significant horse races.