Jakkalberry, the Marco Botti-trained stayer who had taken the inaugural Arlington St Leger in Chicago in August, performed best of the visitors with his close-up third, but Mount Athos, a fast-finishing fifth, captured most attention as he was bumped on the turn and flew home, recording impressive splits despite the traffic problems he encountered.
The two topweights from France, Dunedin (14th) and Americain (11th), failed to live up expectations. The feeling in the Dunedin camp is that the horse's brilliant Caulfield Cup victory may have taken the edge off him, while Americain took up a rails position early under his new partner Damien Oliver and was asked to thread his way through the field when straightening.
Ed Dunlop's Red Cadeaux (eighth) was another not suited by the muddling pace, which is a pity as he had been working well and appeared to be thriving. You need more than professional handling and painstaking preparation to win this two-mile handicap, which now carries £4.2m prizemoney.
Green Moon, who had started his career with Harry Dunlop in Britain, led home a total domination by horses, who had started their careers in Europe. Second home, Fiorente, had been an 11th hour purchase out of Sir Michael Stoute's stable, while Jackalberry is trained at Newmarket by Botti. Even the fourth, Kelinni, had won a race on the polytrack at Wolverhampton in September 2010 before being bought for Australia.
Nick Williams, who part-owns Green Moon with his father Lloyd, said: "At the present time, the old New Zealand stayer (who cleaned up in the 1960s and 1970s) is a thing past. Those days are gone. What we've seen with these overseas stayers is that they are better."
Lloyd Williams, one of Kerry Packer's former associates, and a key figure in starting Melbourne's casino, was winning his fourth Melbourne Cup. He now has a private training facility which he personally oversees, with former Aussie Rules footballer Robert Hickmott as his appointed trainer.
"Anyone who gets into racing [in Australia[] has that dream of winning the Melbourne Cup," explained Nick Williams. "We're a very bad example of that. We've taken it to extremes," he added.
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