Caulfield and Melbourne Cups acceptor Sculptor was upstaged by unpredictable stablemate Miles in the Egmont Cup (2100m), a traditional cups leadup for Melbourne-bound New Zealand horses, at Hawera yesterday.
The race was also won by Kiwi before his sensational 1983 Melbourne Cup victory.
Miles, a tough, talented butup-and-down campaigner without any form in his past three starts, lobbed along in front once the field settled down and then defied the others to catch him.
Trained by Peter McKenzie and ridden by Paul Taylor, he hit the line a length clear of Mickey with another length to Keisano.
Sculptor, topweight on 58kg and giving 2.5kg to Miles, trailed nicely in third spot but didn't run on in the final stages, finishing fourth, another half length back.
Victoria Derby hope Nom de Jeu didn't look much like a classic contender earlier on the programme. The Montjeu colt, trained by Murray Baker and ridden by Michael Walker, could manage only 10th in a field of 15 in a rating 70 2100m event.
There was no word from Baker on whether he would press on with a Derby campaign.
