Victory on Prince of Penzance in the Moonee Valley Cup was bitter-sweet for Michelle Payne.
Payne will miss 20 meetings after causing Chad Schofield to fall on Albonetti during the race.
"I didn't want to go into the run, but I just found myself there," Payne said. "The horse just towed me into the run."
As she got into Precedence it set off a chain reaction that resulted in Schofield hitting the deck. She also got a 10-meeting suspension for careless riding on Akavoroun in the Crystal Vase. It will be served concurrently.
Despite the drama, Prince Of Penzance returned to his best with a last-to-first win in the $250,000 group 2 event, but a run in the Melbourne Cup still appears a long shot.
After only being fairly away, Payne was happy to sit at the rear before starting to make ground through the field from the 800 metres.
On the corner, Prince Of Penzance ($10) moved up three wide to go after the leaders and he proved too strong in the final stages for Le Roi ($8), which loomed as the winner on the turn after having the run of the race.
Au Revoir ($4.80) fought on well for third a half length away, after setting the speed.
Trainer Darren Weir said Prince Of Penzance, which had shown some improvement at his previous start in the Moe Cup, had been hindered by firm tracks and had relished the Strathayr surface at Moonee Valley.
"He's had a few joint issues so there has been a bit of beach work," Weir said. "Just in the last 10 days we thought he was getting into a bit of a comfort zone at the beach so he has been back at Ballarat with a bit of schooling and whatever and it seems to have all worked."
Tommy Berry, who rode Le Roi, said he thought he had the race won at the 100 metres but the winner was just too strong.
"It's hard to swallow, I thought I had it won but he just sprinted past me," Berry said.
Au Revoir's jockey Damien Oliver was also pleased with the effort of the OTI-syndicated galloper which needed to win to force his way significantly up the Melbourne Cup entry list. "It was a good effort and a really pleasing run. He should take a lot of benefit from it," Oliver said.
Racing Victoria's executive general manager of racing Greg Carpenter said he would announce a penalty for Prince Of Penzance before Monday's second declarations for the cup but even if the horse is given a 2kg penalty it would still be stranded at No.37 in the order of entry.
The placings of Le Roi and Au Revoir moved them to 38th and 30th respectively.
