Americain lands Melbourne Cup win

By Frank Keogh

So You Think won comfortably in his last race on Saturday

The French-trained Americain won the 150th running of the Melbourne Cup as favourite So You Think finished third.

Gerald Mosse guided the five-year-old, trained by Alain de Royer-Dupre, to a rare European victory in the famous Australian race 'which stops a nation'.

Maluckyday was second while So You Think ran creditably but failed to justify being the hottest favourite since the great Phar Lap in 1930.

A crowd of 100,000 packed into Flemington racecourse for the big race.

"It's a special feeling to win. The job is so easy when you are in the best race and have the best horse," said Mosse.

The winning trainer added: "Before it looked difficult to come from France and be competitive, but I was confident today."

Irishman Dermot Weld, who triumphed with Vintage Crop (1993) and Media Puzzle (2002), is the only previous European trainer to have won the race.

So You Think had captured the hearts of many Australians with five victories in a row for 12-time Melbourne Cup winner Bart Cummings, 82, but was running over two miles for the first time.

He raced keenly in behind as Once Were Wild set a steady pace up front in the early stages with Americain buried in the pack.

Turning into the straight, Once Were Wild was still in front with Descarado primed to challenge along with Maluckyday, who came storming up the inside.

However, Mosse produced his mount with perfect timing and Americain accelerated away to supplement last month's Geelong Cup victory in style.

Of the other European runners, Frankie Dettori fared best in sixth on Holberg, with Manigher seventh and Illustrious Blue ninth.

Campanologist and Weld's Profound Beauty were among the also-rans.

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