Shocking survived a torrid run to beat off two powerful international rivals and win Tuesday's A$5.5 million (3.1 million pound) Melbourne Cup. Skip related content
The four-year-old Shocking (9-1) put in an incredible staying performance, running three wide into a stiff breeze for most of the gruelling 3200 metre handicap to win Australia's richest and most famous horse race.
Crime Scene (40-1), trained by the powerful Godolphin stable, finished second after looking like the winner at the final furlong, while Mourilyan (20-1), trained by South African Herman Brown and owned by Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, was third.
Only three horses trained outside of Australia or New Zealand have won the Melbourne Cup, first held in 1861 and being run for the 149th time, and only a brave performance by Shocking prevented another overseas winner.
There were six foreign runners in the final 24-horse field but Changingoftheguard was scratched on veterinary advice hours before the race and Munsef and Basaltico failed to make any impression.
Despite that, Tuesday's race, which drew a crowd of more than 102,000 spectators at Flemington racecourse and was watched by millions more on television, again looked to be at the mercy of the European challengers when the pre-race favourite Alcopop, a former cattle horse, and last year's winner Viewed, fell too far back in the early stages.
Crime Scene burst to the front in the final straight but Shocking, who emerged as one of the main race contenders when he won a major leadup race last weekend, charged home over the last 200 metres to win after a thrilling two-horse sprint to the post.
"I was worried the whole race," said Shocking's jockey Corey Brown.
"I just wanted to get well into the straight before I exposed him again. It was a tough effort, travelling three wide in a Melbourne Cup and still win."
SWEET REDEMPTION
Brown's win was sweet redemption for the lightweight rider after he finished second last year, beaten by a nose on yet another foreign runner, Bauer.
He also finished second on Mr Prudent in 2002 and third on Laher in 1999 but finally broke through to win the race for the first time.
"I've had to watch the replay of last year's race for a year and now I can forget about it. I've won the Melbourne Cup," Brown said.
It was also a triumphant moment for winning trainer Mark Kavanagh, who had prepared the hot favourite for last weekend's Victoria Derby only to scratch him just hours before the jump.
"Spring Carnival's a tough time for everybody and you've got to roll with the punches and if you let those things take you off track, you just lose sight of the ball," Kavanagh said.
"I was tickled pink with the preparation and on Saturday I had him just a little proud and round and I knew that win would improve him a lot.
"And the Melbourne Cup is obviously won by horses that peak on the day... Today, it's pretty good."
Crime Scene's gallant runner-up performance was another bittersweet performance for the Godolphin stable, the global racing operation of Sheik Mohammed.
Godolphin have made a habit of plundering the world's biggest and richest races for the past decade, winning 156 Group One races in 12 countries, but the Melbourne Cup continues to elude them despite a decade and millions of dollars spent trying.
They have come close several times with Central Park (1999) and Give The Slip (2001) also finished second while Beekeeper was third in 2002 but have also had some spectacular flops with horses finishing well down the track.
"One year we are going to win, I don't know when," trainer Saeed bin Suoor said.
(Editing by Ossian Shine)
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