Mark Kavanagh's spring of despair turned full circle when Shocking gave the trainer his first Melbourne Cup, defying a determined challenge from the Europeans and leaving Bart Cummings out in the cold.

The four-year-old's win was a milestone for jockey Corey Brown who was beaten a year ago on Bauer when Viewed got the verdict in the closest finish ever recorded on camera.

After settling in the second half of the field, Brown drove Shocking ($10) to the lead inside the final 200 metres of the gruelling 3200 metre journey but Godolphin's Crime Scene ($41) made a fight of it.

Eventually, Shocking got the upper hand and went on to win by three-quarters of a length with Mourilyan ($21) bursting out of the pack to run third, another 1-1/2 lengths away.

"Good things happen in racing, bad things happen," Kavanagh said.

"You can win races, you can have no luck.

"You've got to keep getting up and keep focused.

"It hasn't hit me, I've won a Melbourne Cup. It's every trainer's dream."

Kavanagh's 2008 Cox Plate winner Maldivian suffered a campaign-ending injury earlier this spring while Whobetgotyou was the unplaced favourite in this year's Cox Plate and illness ruled pre-post Victoria Derby favourite Shamoline Warrior out on race morning.

But those disappointments were a distant memory, as was Brown's defeat last year.

"It's an incredible feeling," Brown said.

"I've had to watch the replay of last year's race for a year and now I can forget about it.

"I've won the Melbourne Cup."

Punters flocked to emerging stayer Alcopop, sending him out the $4.80 favourite ahead of Viewed ($6.50) with the pair sixth and seventh respectively.

Cummings had two other runners - Allez Wonder ($26) who failed to see out the distance and finished 16th and Roman Emperor ($11) who weakened to finish 21st of the 23 runners after over-racing early.

Cummings was aiming for his 13th Cup win and Kavanagh admitted he had learned by observing the master trainer's methods.

"I've watched Bart and he peaks them on the day and I'm proud that I did the same," he said.

"It was a perfect ride from Corey."

It was a ride that almost didn't come about with Brown booked to partner the Danny O'Brien-trained Vigor who failed by one place to make the field.

After Shocking won his leadup in Saturday's Lexus Stakes, Kavanagh had Blake Shinn on standby.

"I begged Mark to wait for me," Brown said.

"It was a long wait on Saturday night to find out which horse I was riding.

"I can't thank Mark enough."

Crime Scene was the second string galloper from the Godolphin stable after Kirklees failed to please trainer Saeed Bin Suroor while Mourilyan's presence was marred by controversy over his owner, Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov.

The solid performances of the two Europeans fuelled the fire in trainer David Hayes after his imported galloper Changingoftheguard was withdrawn on race morning after failing a veterinary inspection.

Hayes argued with the Racing Victoria vets to no avail.

"I've never been so insulted in my life," he said.

"My vets said the horse was fine.

"And it just makes it worse now you look at how well the European form looks now."

Finishing just behind those two was the O'Brien-trained Master O'Reilly who also finished fourth last year.

Not all the raiders went well with Warringah, who will remain in Australia with Chris Waller, finishing last after leading the field round the first circuit.

Best of the New Zealanders was Harris Tweed ($101) who finished fifth while the unlucky runner was Daffodil who suffered interference at the top of the straight and finished 11th, one place away from a $115,000 cheque.

Kavanagh's rise to prominence came after a gamble he took three years ago to set up a Flemington stable after training successfully in Adelaide.

"I got a block of stables but in order to have them, I had to rent 26 stables and I only had one horse," Kavanagh said.

"But we started to win races and things picked up.

Shocking's owner Laurence Eales also took a risk deciding to invest the money he had made from his business to indulge his passion for racing.

A student of breeding, Eales decided he liked the progeny of Street Cry and his first purchases included Whobegotyou, a dual Group One winner, and Shocking.