Happy Trails travelled well, just past midfield on the rails. He was giving the leader about eight lengths as the field approached the home turn, he got a nice run through shortly after straightening and was in a challenging position passing the 300m. He joined the leaders at the 100m then fought gamely for a gutsy short neck win at the post. Puissance De Lune was smartly away from his inside barrier (1) then eased to get a good run fifth on the rails. He switched back to the rails at the 400m, took the lead at the 300m and then kept fighting on to fail narrowly for a sound second, albeit after appearing to have every chance. Fawkner had a good run about sixth between runners to the 600m. He moved up wide rounding the home turn, challenged strongly at the 300m and the battled gamely for a close third. fiorente was eased from his wide barrier (11) and was second last in the 16-horse field most of the way to the home turn. He was shuffled back to last at the 300m before getting a split passing the 200m. He then finished fast for an eye-catching, late-closing (half length) fourth, putting up a great run from a Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) perspective. Another excellent effort, from a Cups viewpoint, came from Hawkspur. He went back to last after starting from a difficult barrier (15). He was blocked until the 200m point, he then ran on strongly for a late-closing, close-up, fifth. Silent Achiever was well back in 14th place to the 800m. She went wide on straightening and made up good ground for sixth, putting up another good effort. Jet Away, resuming after a set-back, raced in 11th place, wide with cover to the 600m. He put in a good run on straightening, challenged at the 200m and kept battling on well for good seventh, beaten just under two lengths. *ANZ