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2013 Melbourne Cup: Where the race was won by Fiorente

Damien Oliver faces a three-horse race in the challenge for the Melbourne Premiership. (AAP Image/Joe Castro)
Expert
5th November, 2013
5

Fiorente won the 2013 Melbourne Cup on the point of the home bend, when he carried himself into the finish after enjoying a sweet run from Damien Oliver throughout most of the race.

Melbourne Cup 2013: Who won, who came last

From there, with his awesome turn of foot about to be unleashed, he was always going to be hard to beat.

Of course, if you backed Fiorente – and he was the Melbourne Cup favourite – you could probably say he won the Melbourne Cup with an outstanding trial he put in at Moonee Valley when third in the Cox Plate.

That was a perfect Melbourne Cup lead-up – an outstanding run after working hard for the first 800m of the race.

Really that’s when Fiorente, an imported Irish-bred horse trained by Gai Waterhouse, went to a new level.

He had always performed well. He was second in last year’s Melbourne Cup. He was also an eye-catching third in the 2013 All Aged in April. That was the race made famous by the scandal that emerged after the failure of stable-mate More Joyous.

But in the Cox Plate, Fiorente had to do early work and we’ve never seen him to do that before in Australia. It was pleasing to see him so strong at the finish, only going down by a couple of lengths.

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It was in the Cox Plate Fiorente showed us he was not a one-dimensional racehorse.

We knew he could perform off a quiet run at the back of the field. But now we knew he could also do work early in a race and win – and for a noted backmarker, versatility is a fantastic and rare trait to have.

Fiorente had the form to win the Melbourne Cup but Damien Oliver still had to steer him well enough to get the job done.

And Oliver, now a three-time winner of the Cup, rode a great race.

He had Fiorente positioned off the inside fence – intentionally – for the whole race. Fiorente did no work.

When he was produced on the outside of the field at the 400m mark, seeing daylight for the first time, he was the fresh horse on the scene.

Fiorente just had to show his customary sprint to win the Melbourne Cup and he did it, as he always has done when ridden quietly in Australia.

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He found the front in plenty of time and was able to hold off any late challenges.

The 2013 Melbourne Cup winner was the horse with the best form, the favourite and more than worthy.

Watch the race in full

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