Flying Fiorente firms for Melbourne Cup with impressive third

YOU HAD to feel for jockey Blake Shinn, who was forced to push forward on Fiorente for virtually the first half of the race before finding a spot.

Super Cool and Fiorente (left) are caught wide shortly after the start. Picture: Jay Town

YOU HAD to feel for jockey Blake Shinn who was forced to push forward on Fiorente for virtually the first half of the race before he could slot into a nice spot.

Shinn was posted four deep going into the first turn, and given the sluggish tempo early, took the option to keep rolling forward.

He would have went to bed last night wondering what could have been had Fiorente drawn anything other than barrier 14.

Shinn and Fiorente were easily the Cox Plate's hardluck story.

"I could have gone back to last with that tempo, or roll forward and take the race by the scruff of the neck," Shinn said.

"I thought at the 600m I was going better than the winner, but the weight told, and doing that bit of work to get there.

"I thought the best scenario was to go forward if I wanted to win. He's a great horse this horse. It was a great Melbourne Cup trial."

And bookmakers agreed. The TAB slashed Fiorente's price to $5.50 for the race that stops a nation, making him outright favourite.

Trainer Gai Waterhouse praised Shinn, and said there was no other option but to keep rolling forward.

"When the horse settled abut four off the fence, he thought to himself, `I'm not quite in the position I want, so I'll let him slide, and he kept sliding and sliding and sliding," Waterhouse said.

"They didn't slow down quite enough for him to go and just sit there."

Shinn was only warming the saddle for the suspended Damien Oliver, but acknowledged Fiorente would take a power of beating on Tuesday week.

WHAT THE JOCKEYS SAID

Chad Schofield (Shamus Award) 1st: "I was confident the horse would run well. I had a couple of looks in the last hundred metres and I could see Happy Trails flying. I wasn't sure but Michael Rodd pointed out the camera which was on me.''

Dwayne Dunn (Happy Trails) 2nd: "Another great effort ... just missed.''

Blake Shinn (Fiorente) 3rd: "A fantastic run. I thought I was the winner at the 500 (metres) but the winner with the weight pull was just a little bit stronger. It was a great Melbourne Cup trial.''

Craig Newitt (Foreteller) 4th: "Great run. It's as good as he goes. I'm sure he'll win more Group Ones.''

Corey Brown (Super Cool) 5th: "He ran really good. He had to work from a wide gate and didn't have a lot luck until we got down near the mile.''

Craig Williams (Side Glance) 6th: "He was so keen. He's done an amazing job to be so aggressive the whole race to still run sixth in our best weight-for-age race. Excellent effort.''

Hugh Bowman (Seville) 7th: "Very happy.''

James McDonald (It's A Dundeel) 8th: "We had to have a crack. We weren't going to win by going back. It just never panned out. There's always another year.''

Brett Prebble (Green Moon) 9th DH: "Ran super. Had no hope because the race was way too slow.''

Kerrin McEvoy (Long John) 9th DH: "We got into a nice spot. He just couldn't handle the Valley and the class of race.''

Steven Arnold (Mull Of Killough) 11th: "Even run. Just got shuffled back down the side. He probably would have been better off if he was outside the leader.''

Ben Melham (Puissance De Lune) 12th: "He didn't let go at all. He had a good run throughout but he didn't fire a shot for whatever reason.''

Michael Rodd (Masked Marvel) 13th: "He's going good for two miles.''

Mark Zahra (Rekindled Interest) Last: "No good.''