KEY POINTS:
The Princess Coup camp was euphoric and the Zipping camp was sweating.
That was the dramatic aftermath of the A$750,000 ($905,000) Mackinnon Stakes at Flemington on Saturday.
Princess Coup proved herself one of the worthy Cup favourites with her Mackinnon second placing.
Zipping proved himself to be the
main danger to $5.50 favourite Master O'Reilly with his fast-closing third.
Stewards questioned the integrity of Danny Nikolic's Zipping ride.
They were concerned his decision to restrain Zipping back in last place to the home bend gave the horse little chance to pick up the leaders.
Proving a jockey gave a horse a quiet run is one of the most difficult charges stewards have to establish and they reported that they gave Nikolic "the benefit of some very grave doubt" over his ride.
There was high drama before the hearing. Official trainer Graeme Rogerson was not on course and neither was Zipping's reclusive owner Lloyd Williams, who rarely attends the races, despite owning 110 horses.
Stewards could not contact Williams, but assistant trainer John Sadler did and reported to stewards that Williams has no issue with Nikolic's ride, claiming he performed to instructions.
"What was I supposed to do," said Nikolic, "if I'd taken off any earlier I'd have been forced six wide, that would have been idiotic.
"He ran his last 600m in 34 [seconds] carrying 59kg. I'm comfortable the horse was given every chance."
While this was unfolding the Princess Coup camp were congratulating each other.
And rightly so, the New Zealand mare probably should have taken home the A$450,000 winner's cheque.
Big race rider Kerrin McEvoy rode an ill-judged race in pulling out three wide from the 600m, being the first to launch.
Had McEvoy waited to the home turn, the winner, Sirmione, might have struggled to get past Princess Coup.
Trainer Mark Walker doesn't publicly criticise jockeys, but you could read his thoughts.
There were two schools of thought on the value of the Mackinnon form, one being that it was weakened by the fact that Haradasun and Miss Finland, both now to be spelled, raced well below their best.
The flip side is that the winner and runner-up drop in the weights for the Cup: Sirmione comes down from 58kg to 51.5kg and Princess Coup from 56kg to 51kg.
Kerrin McEvoy, who is replaced by Noel Harris for tomorrow's big race, was impressed with his first ride on Princess Coup.
"She has only to see out the trip [3200m] to be a top-four chance," he said. The distance is one of Mark Walker's two slight doubts.
"Sure, you're always worried when they haven't run 3200m, but she's very well at the moment."
Walker is delighted with the No 9 barrier draw.
"I said I wanted No 7 or No 8, so I can't be disappointed with No 9.
"Noel [Harris] will have watched her run on television in New Zealand and I'll bet he's smiling. He'll be smiling even wider after this barrier draw.
"The last thing you want is to draw one, two, three or four in a Melbourne Cup."
Walker's second concern is Princess Coup's tendency to leave the starting stalls two or three lengths behind the opposition, which she did on Saturday.
"Well, you can't do much about that. It would be nice to see her not do it in a Melbourne Cup though.
"Even if she does Noel is such a relaxed rider he'll sort it out for her."
