Sumii Dominates Melbourne Prize

Yeats could finish only seventh in the Emirates Melbourne Cup as Japanese trainer Katsuhiko Sumii sent out Delta Blues to lead home a one-two at Flemington Park.

The 17-1 shot just held stablemate and 5-1 joint-favourite Pop Rock to notch a landmark victory for Sumii and jockey Yasunari Iwata in the Group One contest.

Maybe Better (9-1) claimed third for the home team ? while Jamie Poulton's 200-1 outsider Land'N Stars fared best of the British raiders, storming down the home straight under John Egan to take fifth place.

The Aidan O'Brien-trained Yeats was slow to break for Kieren Fallon but worked his way through to hit the front turning into the straight ? only to be swallowed up quickly under his top weight.

Iwata conjured a fantastic run from Delta Blues to take the lead around a furlong and half out ? and although Damien Oliver threw down a serious challenge aboard Pop Rock in the final half-furlong, he narrowly lost out in a driving finish.

Delta Blues finished third in the Caulfield Cup on his previous start, and Iwata said: 'I would like to congratulate the owner, and the trainer, and all related staff involved in training such a great horse in Delta Blues.

Poulton was delighted to see Land'N Stars put his last place in the Caulfield Cup well behind him with a strong staying performance.

'I was very happy with that. We had to turn it around quickly after the Caulfield Cup and we did that, but you have to hand it to the Japanese horses, weren't they amazing!' he said.

Yeats started from stall four ? and although Fallon's mount suffered some interference which saw him pushed wide on the first bend, the rider offered no real excuses and believes the horse was just not at his best.

'I am disappointed really. He didn't finish off like I thought he would,. The race was run pretty much the way I expected it to be,' said Fallon.

'I thought I should have gone from a mile out, because they didn't go very quick.'

(C) PA Sport