Melbourne Cup: Dunlop overdue Cup luck

Atacama (left) strikes a blow for New Zealand by winning the Premium Stakes yesterday. Picture / Getty Images

Trainer takes his third runner-up placing in his stride as he salutes fellow horseman

The respect among Melbourne Cup competitors was obvious 60 seconds after Protectionist defeated his A$6.2 million Melbourne Cup rivals at Flemington yesterday.

The first to congratulate winning trainer Andreas Wohler was Ed Dunlop, trainer of runner-up Red Cadeaux.

A cheque for A$900,000 usually takes the disappointment out of finishing second in a Melbourne Cup, but the significance of this was that Dunlop has now three times welcomed Red Cadeaux back into the No 2 stall.

You might be excused for being upset about that, but the warmth Dunlop put into the congratulatory handshake said an awful lot.

"What a wonderful sportsman Ed is," said Wohler.

If Dunlop harboured disappointment it was clearly outweighed by his admiration for his 9-year-old veteran.

"What a horse, truly what a horse. He's run in four Melbourne Cups.

"He's an absolute hero."

Asked if there was a chance he could bring Red Cadeaux back next year for a remarkable fifth attempt, Dunlop said: "Well, I didn't think I'd be back this year, but his form justified it. Who knows?"

In one of his second places Red Cadeaux was unlucky, but there were no hard luck stories yesterday.

His French rider Gerald Mosse said: "When the winner went past me he was simply too fast. My old man was terrific."

Protectionist's 3200m time of 3:17.7 is the fastest Melbourne Cup since Kingston Rule ran 3:16.3 in 1990.

Winning rider Ryan Moore told Andreas Wohler he knew at the 1000m he had the race won.

"They went hard in front and they kept dropping out in front of me, which made it easy to pick a path forward."

Who Shot Thebarman ran the race of his life to finish third. "He ran his heart out," said rider Glen Boss.

New Zealand had a stroke of success when Shaune Ritchie produced progressive mare Atacama to win the A$150,000 James Boag Premium Stakes.

Atacama was beautifully ridden just behind the pace by James McDonald, who was impressed by the mare. "She had to do it pretty tough in the closing stages in that tight finish, but she hung in there. She's a nice mare."

German hero hailed
• Ed Dunlop, trainer of Red Cadeaux, was on hand to congratulate Andreas Wohler.
• It was still a magnificent effort from the 9-year-old who looked the winner 300m out.
• Cambridge trainer Shaune Ritchie was all smiles after Atacama's win.