Purple Moon is eclipsed in the Melbourne Cup

The Luca Cumani-trained Newmarket raider struck for home off the home turn under Aussie jockey Damien Oliver but was reeled in by the late run of the 20-1 winner.

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Mahler, trained in Ireland by Aidan O'Brien, stayed on for third place having been in the firing line throughout but Amanda Perrett's Tungsten Strike, the third European runner, faded to finish last of the 21 runners having held the lead early on.

Purple Moon moved up to throw down his challenge with two furlongs to run, taking the lead from the game Mahler. But Efficient and jockey Michael Rodd were winding up to make their challenge down the wide outside of the straight and they got up close home to score by half a length.

"I could see the grey horse coming down the outside,î said Cumani. "I was just hoping his run had peaked. I wished he had found form next week. Oliver was also left to reflect upon what might have been.

"He was there to win it but Efficient was too strong," said the experienced rider.

"It's that feeling you don't want to feel. When you think you've got it won and you can see them out of the corner of your eye. The winner covered a bit more ground than us. You can't take anything off him."

Coolmore's Tom Magnier was full of praise for Mahler's effort, saying: "The jockey gave him a great ride - the run was absolutely the way we wanted, we knew he had to take it up. Aidan is delighted and thinks he's going to be a serious horse."

Efficient was the winner of the Victoria Derby last year, after which he was earmarked for this race 12 months ago only to be forced out late onwhen going lame.

But the four-year-old had lost his form badly since and was schooled over hurdles in the run-up to the race in a bid to rekindle his enthusiasm.

The 147th renewal of Australia's biggest race provided an important shot in the arm to the country's beleaguered racing industry.

Heavy losses have devastated the sport since an outbreak of equine flu in Sydney two months ago, and this year's renewal of the £2.25million event was for some time under threat of cancellation.

The meeting took place without any runners from Asia, who were prevented from travelling as a result of restrictions put into place after the flu outbreak.

While Cumani was celebrating a great performance from Purple Moon, an Australian adventure for Yorkshire trainer Brian Ellison ended in tragedy on the supporting card.

Bay Story suffered a fatal fracture to his near-hind leg in the final 200 metres of the Lavazza Long Black contest.

Bay Story had originally been brought Down Under two years ago to be a companion to another Ellison horse Carte Diamond, who had suffered severe but not lifethreatening injuries when impaling himself during a track gallop at Flemington a week before the Melbourne Cup.