Green Moon's dominant win in the Melbourne Cup poses one big question as far as punters are concerned - how did he run so poorly in the Cox Plate? Or perhaps the run wasn't as bad it seemed? He was rejuvenated over the 2 miles and gave nothing else a chance from the top of the straight. Most of the well-fancied horses turned in shockers - especially Dunaden (14th) and Americain (11th). Both were never in the hunt. Mount Athos ran on strongly for 5th. Ethiopia pulled up lame off hind leg and had

Green Moon's dominant win in the Melbourne Cup poses one big question as far as punters are concerned - how did he run so poorly in the Cox Plate? Or perhaps the run wasn't as bad it seemed? He was rejuvenated over the 2 miles and gave nothing else a chance from the top of the straight. Most of the well-fancied horses turned in shockers - especially Dunaden (14th) and Americain (11th). Both were never in the hunt. Mount Athos ran on strongly for 5th. Ethiopia pulled up lame off hind leg and had a lacerated right hip. Irish stayer Galileo's Choice ran 20th.

Punters who played the right exotic bets in the Melbourne Cup have reaped huge dividends in both NSW and Victoria. The First 4 in NSW paid $1.4 million with the top seven in fixed odds betting failing to finish in the top four. "The First 4 is a record in NSW, eclipsing the previous biggest dividend which was on Stakes Day in 2007," says TAB's Matt Jenkins. "Trifectas were the most popular exotic bet type on the Cup from the First 4." The Victorian TAB dividend on the First 4 was also huge ($969,406) narrowly falling short of the magical million dollar mark.

Fixed Odds

TAB Fixed Odds held a record $10 million on the Melbourne Cup.

Green Moon was a one-time fixed odds favourite for the race, but fell out with punters after disappointing as top pick in the Cox Plate.

The 2012 Emirates Melbourne Cup winner opened $26 in May and started $22 with TAB Fixed Odds today.

The booking of Brett Prebble sparked interest last Friday with bets of $3,000 and $2,500 at $21.

Runner-up Fiorente was well backed to win the race with one bet of $6,000 at $41 today.

Losing Bets of note placed today - Melbourne Cup

$300,000 [box trifecta] on Winchester, Sanagas and Mourayan
$16,000 e/w Sanagas (tote)
$10,000 @ $8 Mount Athos
$8,500 @ $7 Dunaden
$6,000 @ $41 Fiorente