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WATCH: Dunaden wins Melbourne Cup thriller by a nose

The finish to last night’s Melbourne Cup could hardly have been closer. Watch it here.

IN THE LONG and storied history of the Melbourne Cup, there has never been a finish as dramatic as Dunaden’s win in Flemington Park last night.

The French raider held off Ed Dunlop’s Red Cadeaux in a thrilling photo finish to win Australia’s most prestigious horse race by a nose, the smallest winning margin in 151 runnings.

With Christophe Lemaire on board, Dunaden reeled in Red Cadeaux over the final furlong but looked to have left it too late before edging in front on the line.

Lucas Cranach finished in third.

Afterwards, trainer Mikel Delzangles admitted that he didn’t dare to dream that his colt had actually won until the stewards’ verdict was confirmed.

“I thought beforehand that he wouldn’t like the ground but that was a fantastic run,” Delzangles said. “I was watching it with Luca Cumani and he thought I’d got it on the nod but the best I thought we’d got would have been a dead heat.

He got a lovely run into the straight and the jockey has given him a great ride. We don’t like to be second but I’ve come all the way down here for the first so you have to be delighted. If he’s OK, we’ll be back next year.

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