Five-vowel horses first and second.

Of course, the horse had never raced over that distance. But things were going well. Incentivise had moved effortlessly from third to second to leader at one thousand out. The race was there to be won. 

But that morning, James McDonald who was to ride Verry Elleegant in the Cup wrote in the Herald Sun: 'Incentivise still has to run two miles ... until they do it, you just never know. ... knowing Verry Elleegant will run (the distance) is huge. ... The first 200m to 400m is ... important for Verry Elleegant. I'm going to want to find a spot and switch her off. Also, from the 1000m to the home turn. That's where I need to find the right horse or horses to tow me into the race.'

After lumbering out of barrier eighteen, Verry Elleegant switched off three back, rode a few horses around a few turns, rode a few more along the straights, and then sat on Spanish Mission to the home turn. Then McDonald switched her on again. As astounding as that turn of speed seemed, equally breathtaking was that Incentivise hung on for second. Phar Lap, 1930 Cup winner, remains the most recent horse to have won at odds of 9-4 or less.