Crime Scene foiled in Melbourne Cup bid

Published on Tuesday 3 November 2009 21:50

CRIME Scene, formerly in the care of Scottish trainer Mark Johnston and a winner at Musselburgh in his debut season in 2006, came agonisingly close to winning the Melbourne Cup for his new handlers Godolphin.

Trainer Saeed bin Suroor has saddled Central Park (1999) and Give The Slip (2001) for minor honours in the last ten years and Crime Scene provided another runner-up placing as he went down by three-quarters of a length to 10-1 shot Shocking.

Former Sir Michael Stoute inmate Warringah set a slow early pace in the two-mile Flemington contest, worth five million Australian dollars, but as he began to flag at the top of the straight, Kerrin McEvoy swept through on Crime Scene to take it up. However, Corey Brown was sitting on his heels aboard the Mark Kavanagh-trained Shocking and delivered a perfectly-timed challenge in the closing stages. Although Crime Scene made a good battle of it, Shocking just had too much petrol in the tank and pulled clear at the finish.

"The horse did really very well. Before the race I was really happy with him and that gave us the confidence to run him," said Bin Suroor. "The blinkers made a big difference to him really – working on Saturday he was more focused than ever. This our third time in the Melbourne Cup. We have run second (and) one day we are going to win."

Brown, who has endured a rollercoaster career, was gaining compensation after just losing out by a nose aboard Luca Cumani's Bauer last year. "I've had a fair few hiccups in my racing career. Three years ago, I ran into a bit of trouble in Hong Kong (when suspended for six months for testing positive for cocaine) and I was told I would never get back to the heights that I did, but to come here today to win the Cup has proven them all wrong," Brown said.

The rider was originally booked to ride Vigor but after that horse was controversially excluded from the field on Saturday night, Kavanagh allowed him to step in for the ride. Shocking had to overcome an unfavourable draw in 22 on a day when most winners needed cover from the strong winds which buffeted Flemington.

"We travelled three deep with no cover. I know he had no weight but he did tough it out really well," added Brown. "I got probably a good half a length on the second horse and then I thought he was going to fight back and beat me, but my bloke stuck to his guns."

Kavanagh was confident of a good performance from Shocking after his win in the Lexus Stakes at Flemington just four days ago. "Shocking's a stallion and he takes a bit of racing to come right and we knew Saturday would top him off," explained the trainer.

Mourilyan, who was trained by Gary Moore earlier in the year, came with a late surge to claim third on his first start since returning to the care of South African trainer Herman Brown.

Favourites Alcopop and Viewed flopped in the 23-runner race, watched by 100,000 on the track and millions of television viewers worldwide.