Shocking victory in Melbourne Cup

Shocking denied Godolphin's Crime Scene a landmark success as he dug deep to land the Emirates Melbourne Cup at Flemington.

A UK-based runner has yet to win the Australian Group One but Godolphin trainer Saeed bin Suroor has twice saddled the runner-up in the two-mile heat.

Despite Crime Scene leading the field into the final two furlongs, the Mark Kavanagh-trained Shocking swooped late to steal the prize by just under a length.

Ex-Sir Michael Stoute inmate Warringah was keen to make the running and he was still in front at the five-furlong point.

However, he began to toil at the top of the straight allowing Kerrin McEvoy to sweep through on Crime Scene and take it up three furlongs from home.

Brown, who had been forced to run three wide of the rail, was tracking the Godolphin runner and switched out to challenge at the two-furlong marker.

Crime Scene made a good battle of it, but Shocking just had too much petrol in the tank and became the first horse since Brew in 2000 to follow up victory in last Saturday's Lexus Stakes with success in Australia's biggest race.

Brown was gaining adequate compensation after losing out by just a nose aboard Luca Cumani's Bauer in 2008.

'Last year was very disappointing, and now I've finally won the Melbourne Cup. It's a dream come true, I can't describe the feeling,' said Brown.

'I kept looking on the outside thinking something was going to flash home. Great job Mark Kavanagh and the horse. He travelled three deep no cover, I know he had a light weight, but he toughed it out very well.'

Kavanagh added: 'I didn't give him a hope in the running, he was trapped deep.

'I said halfway through, it's hard to win a Melbourne Cup, but he looked so good on Saturday, and he improved since that run. This preparation was timed to perfection, he came good at the right time.

'I honestly thought he just can't keep going. He was just the superior stayer on the day.'

Cumani saddled Basaltico this time but he could finish only 18th of the 23 runners while Ian Williams' Munsef was 12th.

Last year's winner Viewed finished seventh under top weight.

McEvoy was satisfied with Crime Scene's performance, adding: 'He ran a great race and gave us a good thrill. The other horse headed me at the furlong but my horse really let go well.'

Mourilyan was making his first start since returning to the care of South African handler Herman Brown and his rider Glyn Schofield felt his mount just fell short.

He said: 'This horse kept improving, kept on bursting through. I tried to follow Kerrin when he came out, but when I went for him at the end, there wasn't much there.'

Master O'Reilly was finishing fourth for the second successive year and his rider Vlad Duric blamed the lack of early pace.

'They went too slow coming out of the straight and slowed up mid-race. It was always going to be hard for my horse coming from the back,' he explained.

Brad Rawiller thought defending champion Viewed enjoyed no sort of luck in the race.

'It was too slow for us. I would have liked to have been on the back of Shocking to bring us into the race,' he said.

'I got forced onto the heels of one going down the straight and we nearly came down. We were lucky to stay up. I had two horses at one stage trying to stay inside me and ended up in strife for 100 metres. (We) got on heels and nearly came down but fortunately stayed up.

'From there to the winning post we were in a fair bit of trouble there. With 58kg it was going to be hard from there.'

Zac Purton also believes Munsef did not get the rub of the green.

He added: '(It was a) bit disappointing because I had a good run. I was trailing the second horse, I had the winner outside me. Then at about the 800 metre (mark) Nick Hall (rider of eighth C'est La Guerre) came out under my neck and put me out of the race.'