MELBOURNE CUP REPORT:FOR THE 12th time in his remarkable career, Bart Cummings became the Melbourne Cup's headline act with Viewed's thrilling victory at Flemington in the early hours of yesterday morning. But despite his three horses trailing in at the rear of the field Aidan O'Brien still ended up pushing the octogenarian maestro for the limelight.

The pace-forcing tactics adopted by the O'Brien team baffled many local observers and they certainly appeared to backfire as Septimus struggled home in 18th with Alessandro Volta two places further back and Honolulu last of the 21 finishers.

"The gameplan of Aidan O'Brien, regarded as one of the world's leading trainers, went askew when his navigators hopelessly misread the tempo," declared the Sydney Morning Herald which described as "negative" the impact the O'Brien team had on yesterday's race.

But the disappointment of once again losing out on one of the world's most famous races was compounded later when Johnny Murtagh, Colm O'Donoghue and Wayne Lordan were questioned by Racing Victoria stewards. Lordan, who rode Alessandro Volta, was asked about his riding instructions.

O'Brien had left the track but was summoned back and vehemently defended himself and his riders.

"We've come down here to do our best. All the trainers, jockeys (in the race) knew we were going to build an even pace," he told the stewards.

It was also pointed out that both Septimus and Honolulu finished lame while Lordan reported he felt Alessandro Volta might have burst a blood vessel.

"I told him (Lordan) to let the rhythm flow because we wanted the pace to be even and level. If we dropped in behind we had no chance," said O'Brien who added that the "ground was like concrete" and that he "could have taken all the horses out".

It was a disappointing end to a raid that had promised so much but ended with Profound Beauty doing best of the Irish in fifth place and the entire international challenge again coming up short.

This time, though, it was only by a nose that Viewed held off the English hope Bauer whose trainer Luca Cumani was finishing runner-up for the second year running after Purple Moon's second to Efficient in 2007. Cumani said: "He's run a great race and we're very pleased.

"We are getting closer and although it is frustrating to be beaten so narrowly, on the other hand he has run a great race.

"He had a good run home and we are very proud of him. He could come back next year but we will see as it is a long way off. We will keep trying to win this race though."

Cumani also sent out Mad Rush to finish seventh under Damien Oliver. He added: "He appeared to not quite stay today in such a fast-run race and was possibly slightly inconvenienced by the ground."

Whether O'Brien's enthusiasm for Melbourne remains as high as it was in the run up to yesterday's race remains to be seen.

O'Brien said after the race: "They didn't run within stones of what they were. There's a lot we have to learn and that's putting it mildly."

Dermot Weld though has cracked the Cup code twice already and local jockey Glen Boss gave him hope that Profound Beauty could return and do even better in 2009. "I had a dream run with the winner and I thought I was going better than him. But she didn't let herself go on the ground in the last two hundred metres," Boss said.

"I tracked the winner the whole race and I had his measure for a long way before we straightened up. When I asked her to extend, she really felt the ground, especially over the last furlong, and she didn't want to stretch out.

"I've got no doubts she will be back next year and very hard to beat."

Viewed's victory was for all generations, however, as 21-year-old jockey Blake Shinn praised 81-year-old Cummings who is known throughout Australia as the "Cup King".

O'Brien was also generous.

"As I've said before, he (Cummings) is incredible," the Irishman said.

"Perhaps I should come down here and work for him!"

Cummings is famously against too many international raiders running in the Melbourne Cup and couldn't resist a jibe at the tactics of the O'Brien team.

"They were making the pace for something," he said. "But I wasn't sure what!"

Shinn admitted he thought he was going to lose out to Bauer in the final strides. "His horse probably peaked the last 100 and my horse to his credit stuck his head out where it counted. It's unbelievable," he said.

"The straight seemed to last forever. I thought I'd won on the line. I wasn't sure, I didn't want to go off (and celebrate) too early after the line."

Winning owner Dato Tan Chin Nam was enjoying his fourth success in the race following the victories of Think Big, a back-to-back winner in 1974 and 1975, and Saintly in 1996.

1st Viewed (Bart Cummings)

B Shinn 40/1

2nd Bauer (Luca Cumani)

C Brown 20/1

3rd C'est La Guerre (John Sadler) B Prebble 20/1

4th Master O'Reilly (DannyO'Brien) V Duric 25/1

9/2 fav Mad Rush. 22 ran.

Tote: €46.50; €14.00, €6.50, €7.80.

Non-runners: Yellowstone, Zarita