MELBOURNE // The rank outsider Viewed gave Bart Cummings his 12th Melbourne Cup victory after just holding off a fast-finishing Bauer at Flemington Racecourse today. Viewed, ridden by Blake Shinn, stormed to the front with 400 metres to go in the 3,200m staying classic and beat the British-trained Bauer by a nose in a dramatic photo finish. C'est La Guerre came third. Cummings won his first Melbourne Cup in 1965 and his previous one in 1999. This year marked the 50th anniversary of his first runner in the "the race that stops a nation" and his first win since 1999 when Rogan Josh won. The win today also chalked up his 250th Group One career triumph.
Cummings, who turns 81 next week, first won the Cup with Light Fingers in 1965. The next highest total is six wins. "It's nice to a win a race like this, a race that everyone in Australia likes to win -- particularly my owners," Cummings said in a televised interview. "I thought it was all over in the last 50 yards, then I thought I wasn't sure. It just happens to be a nice win." The Irish raider Septimus, whose trainer Aidan O'Brien decided to run after inspecting the track to see if it had softened, led down the home straight for the first pass before stablemate Alessandro Volta took the lead. The four-year-old colt led down the entire back straight before O'Brien's third horse, Honolulu, Septimus and Boundless hit the front with 800 metres to run, four lengths clear. The field, however, narrowed the gap around the final turn and Viewed surged into a three-length lead before Corey Brown steered Bauer to an outside line and hauled in the five-year-old with every stride before just missing out on victory.
*Reuters
