Racing: Aidan O'Brien's bid for Melbourne Cup glory came to nothing in the early hours of this morning as home favourite Viewed gave trainer Bart Cummings a 12th victory in the race that stops a nation at Flemington. Luca Cumani's Bauer was second with C'est La Guerre third.
O'Brien's Irish St Leger hero Septimus was among the leading contenders for the Group One race and he was smartly away under Johnny Murtagh.
He was at the head of affairs early on before stablemates Alessandro Volta and Honolulu came through to take over pacemaking duties. The trio set a strong gallop and pulled around six lengths clear at one point, with Septimus leading into the Flemington straight.
However, Blake Shinn had made stealthy progress aboard Viewed and produced his mount over two furlongs out to put daylight between himself and the field.
Corey Brown was just hitting top gear on Bauer though, and he flew through the final furlong before just losing out by the narrowest of margins in the photo.
Dermot Weld's Profound Beauty finished fifth under Glen Boss.
Septimus eventually faded into 18th of the 22 runners. Murtagh said: "He might not be the right horse for the race really. Everyone says you need a bit of speed over here and he got into a nice position after going down the straight.
"We were going a nice, even trip all the way but when we turned into the straight, they went by us as if we were stopped."
Alessandro Volta was 20th while Honolulu was last of the 21 finishers with Gallopin pulled up in the straight.