West Australian galloper Scenic Shot scored an easy win in the Mackinnon Stakes while Viewed turned in the best Melbourne Cup trial by finishing third in the Group One weight-for-age feature despite being galloped on.
Bart Cummings, striving for his 13th Melbourne Cup, said the reigning Melbourne Cup and Caulfield
Cup winner Viewed suffered a superficial cut which was bleeding when he returned to scale.
Stewards reported Viewed was not lame.
Jockey Brad Rawiller said Viewed had been galloped on 1600m from home.
Viewed was the first Melbourne Cup horse home while Master O'Reilly (fifth) and Newport (sixth) both ran respectable races in the 2000m feature.
There was drama before the Mackinnon when Zipping got down in the barrier and was subsequently scratched.
Veteran New Zealander Sir Slick, scratched from the Cox Plate on race morning by stewards, was found to have pulled up lame in the off-foreleg.
But the race was a triumph for WA trainer Danny Morton and Queensland jockey Shane Scriven.
- AAP
