Trainer Mark Kavanagh did not have his best horse entered in Tuesday’s
A$5,650,000 Melbourne Cup (Aus-G1), but he had the right one. Resigned to not
having either his 2008 Cox Plate (Aus-G1) winner Maldivian nor his multiple
Group 1-winning pupil Whobegotyou (Street Cry [Ire]) in Australia’s famous
two-mile handicap at Flemington, the 54-year-old Adelaide, Australia, native
ultimately found luck in the form of SHOCKED (Street Cry [Ire]), who gutted out
the victory by three parts of a length after a three-wide journey throughout.
Off at a price of 10-1, Shocking was registering his second win of the
Melbourne Cup Carnival. On Saturday’s opening day, the four-year-old had
captured a Grade 3 event, registered as the Hotham H., by two lengths over 1
9/16 miles. Shocking was ridden in the Hotham by Michael Rodd, who couldn’t make
the 113-pound assignment for the Melbourne Cup and ceded the mount to Corey
Brown, who narrowly missed aboard Bauer (Halling) in last year’s Cup.
“I’ve had to watch the replay of last year’s race for a year and now I can
forget about it,” Brown told AAP Racing.
Second under the wire was Godolphin’s 41-1 chance Crime Scene (Royal Applause
[GB]), whose biggest victory was in the 2007 St. Simon S. (Eng-G3). Though the
Dubai-based operation fell short of actually winning the Southern Hemisphere’s
most famous race, they could take solace knowing their homebred stallion Street
Cry sired the winner. Third under the wire in the Cup, 1 1/2 lengths further
back, was the 21-1 Mourilyan (Ire) (Desert Prince [Ire]), who races in the
colors of controversial Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov.
Among the noted also-rans were Alcopop (Jeune), the near 5-1 favorite off a
victory in the October 10 Herbert Power H. (Aus-G2) at Caulfield, who finished
sixth. Trainer Bart Cummings, seeking his 13th Melbourne Cup victory, had three
in the field with Viewed (Scenic [Ire]), the 2008 Cup winner and 128-pound
highweight in this renewal, his best finisher in seventh as the 6-1 second
choice in a field of 23.
Shocking, produced from the Danehill mare Maria di Castiglia, completed the
course in 3:23.87. He’s owned by Laurance Eales, a Queensland businessman, and
has now won five of 15 career starts and more than A$3.7 million.
Attendance at Flemington for Melbourne Cup day was 102,181 while handle on
the Cup was reported to be in the neighborhood of A$137 million.