It is becoming a familiar tale, an annual early-hours nightmare. For a few seconds on the first Tuesday of each November, the most glamorous Flat race in the world looks set for a first British-trained victory. And then the fabled prize is snatched back by the Australians.

This time around, it was Godolphin, whose global racing empire is based in Newmarket, that flirted with the Melbourne Cup dream, Crime Scene and Kerrin McEvoy being denied late by Shocking after leading from the three-furlong pole.

It was the second runner-up trained by Saeed bin Suroor and the third in succession trained in Britain. The margin of three-quarters of a length did not compare to the drama of last year, when Bauer lost out by a nose and condemned Luca Cumani to the runner-up berth for the second consecutive year.

But for Corey Brown, the jockey who shared the heartbreak with Cumani, Shocking, trained locally by Mark Kavanagh, provided redemption. “Last year was very disappointing,” Brown said. “But I wish everyone could experience the feeling I've got right now.”

Every British trainer would like to know what he was feeling, but the wait is becoming perverse. The Cup continues to elude even the massive resources of Godolphin, while Cumani is one of several trainers whose calculated Cup crusades meet regular frustration.

Little went to plan for the latest Cumani campaign. Bauer was ruled out by injury and Cima De Triomphe failed to make the final field. Basaltico, the sole stable representative, trailed in eighteenth.

Munsef was twelfth for the Midlands yard of Ian Williams but third place went to Mourilyan, trained until recently by Gary Moore in Sussex.

To add insult to the injured pride of Godolphin, Shocking had run - and won - only three days earlier. It is the type of preparation that seems baffling in Britain, yet Australians do it time after time and still manage to keep their most famous race at home.