After Black Caviar made history winning her 10^th straight in the 2011 Newmarket Handicap the other Group 1 showdown on the Super Saturday race programme, the $1 million Group 1 Australian Cup (2000m), has been won by previous Melbourne Cup champion Shocking.

Hero of the Melbourne Cup back in 2009, the Mark Kavanagh-trained Shocking was back in the Flemington winners’ stall today becoming the 2011 Australian Cup hero in the most devastating fashion.

Shocking was also the Races.com.au favourite to win in our early 2011 Australian Cup betting tips, so any readers that followed our pro advice would have cleaned up today as Shocking paid a generous $8.50 to win through Luxbet.

Early on it was the likes of Kiwi stayer Ginga Dude and the Lloyd Williams-owned Mourayan who lead the field and set a blistering pace for the 2000m showdown.

Mourayan raced on very keenly leading by up to five lengths with around 900m left to travel.

Having drawn wide with barrier 12, Shocking and jockey Corey Brown were forced to settle well back in the field and the eventual winner was one of the last to corner on the turn for home.

Along the straight the frontrunners quickly caved as the likes of Perth three-year-old Playing God, improving Galileo grey Linton and Shocking moved up to challenge.

Linton was ultra impressive running up strong and fast through the middle and looked the winner until Shocking produced the run of the race.

A Flemington track specialist coming off a seventh place finish to Heart Of Dreams over the unsuitably short distance of 1800m at Caulfield last start, Shocking was back to his best today.

On the line it was run-away winner Shocking two lengths ahead of a much-improved Linton while Playing God held on for third.

After missing the start by a length and a half, favourite Heart Of Dreams was never in the race and confirmed claims that his favouritism in a 2000m event were unjustified.

Today Shocking become a 2000m weight-for-age winner and Kavanagh hinted that the $400,000 Group 1 Ranvet Stakes run over the same distance and conditions at Rosehill next Saturday March 19 was now an option.

Shocking has now won seven of his 27 career starts, today’s prize money boosting his total earnings to over $4.8 million.

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2011 Australian Cup Finishing Order

Finish	No.	Horse	Jockey	Trainer	Weight	Margin
1st	1	SHOCKING(12)	Corey Brown	Mark Kavanagh	59.0	2-0.95
2nd	10	LINTON(8)	Michael Rodd	Robert Hickmott	59.0	2.0L
3rd	15	PLAYING GOD(11)	Craig Newitt	Neville Parnham	54.5	3.3L
4th	2	SCENIC SHOT(15)	Shane Scriven	Daniel Morton	59.0	3.5L
5th	5	PRECEDENCE(13)	Steven Arnold	Bart Cummings	59.0	3.6L
6th	14	LARISTAN(7)	Brad Rawiller	David Hayes	58.5	4.1L
7th	11	CEDARBERG(6)	Glyn Schofield	Pat Carey	59.0	4.3L
8th	3	HEART OF DREAMS(9)	Damien Oliver	Mick Price	59.0	4.4L
9th	9	MOUDRE(4)	Craig Williams	Ciaron Maher	59.0	5.9L
10th	6	GINGA DUDE(1)	Michael Walker	Graeme Boyd	59.0	8.1L
11th	7	MOURAYAN(10)	Danny Nikolic	Robert Hickmott	59.0	8.3L
12th	13	MR CHARLIE(5)	Luke Nolen	Peter G Moody	59.0	12.1L
13th	4	C’EST LA GUERRE(3)	Nicholas Hall	Robert Hickmott	59.0	12.2L
14th	8	ALCOPOP(14)	Ben Melham	Jake Stephens	59.0	12.9L
15th	12	LORD PYRUS(2)	Noel Callow	Judy Mawer	59.0	15.9L

Photo courtesy (c) Taron Clarke Photography