Yasunari Iwata riding Delta Blues (R) is congratulated by Damien Oliver riding Pop Rock. Mark Dadswell / Getty Images
Two Japanese horses have dominated the Melbourne Cup, taking out first and second in an extraordinary race.
The six-year-old Delta Blues beat his stable mate Pop Rock by half a length in a thrilling finish to the gruelling 3,200m handicap at Flemington racecourse.
Delta Blues became the first
Asian-trained horse to win Australia's richest and most famous horse race, first run in 1861, and only the third winner not prepared in Australia or New Zealand.
The same man, Katshuhiko Sumii, trains both horses.
Pop Rock was leading into the home stretch but was caught late by Delta Blues which won by the merest of margins at the finish. Third was Maybe Better.
Delta Blues, brilliantly ridden by Yasunari Iwata, was carrying 56kg in the race, the 146th running of the Cup which is famously said to bring two nations, Australia and New Zealand to a halt.
Jockey Iwata said: "I'm very happy. He is the biggest winner ever."
The win marks only the ninth time one trainer has had two horses feature in the quinella in the Melbourne Cup.
Sumii has now become the toast of Japan. His charges, Delta Blues will take home A$3 million ($3.4 million) for the win and Pop Rock A$750,000 ($866,000) for second place.
The Herald's racing writer, Mike Dillon, at the Cup this year picked the Japanese horses for a strong showing, pointing out that Pop Rock and Delta Blues had impressed greatly in finishing a close seventh and third in the Caulfield Cup, the traditional lead up to Australia's greatest race.
Deltas Blues is the better performed of the two horses in his home country.
Before the race, Sumii had said he was confident of a strong showing in the race, the largest Australasian racing occasion.
Delta Blues was paying $19.70 and $6.10 at the New Zealand TAB. Pop Rock was paying $2.65.
Maybe Better, ridden by Australia's Hong Kong-based jockey Chris Munce, fought on strongly to take third, four and a half lengths behind the runner-up, after he won the final qualifying race on Saturday to squeeze into the field.
The Cup, run under banks of grey cloud at Flemington racecourse, was expected to draw close to a record crowd, matching the 122,736 set in 2003.
- Herald Staff, Reuters, AAP
