Weary, wounded and badly beaten, they ambled out of their stables at Sandown quarantine centre on Wednesday oblivious to the consternation surrounding them.The three horses from the most successful racing operation in the world had raced abysmally in Tuesday's Melbourne Cup and on Wednesday morning they could have been excused if they'd hidden their faces.Septimus, the long-time Cup favourite and star of the team, went into the race a much-vaunted second favourite and returned a despised also-ra

Weary, wounded and badly beaten, they ambled out of their stables at Sandown quarantine centre on Wednesday oblivious to the consternation surrounding them.

The three horses from the most successful racing operation in the world had raced abysmally in Tuesday's Melbourne Cup and on Wednesday morning they could have been excused if they'd hidden their faces.

Septimus, the long-time Cup favourite and star of the team, went into the race a much-vaunted second favourite and returned a despised also-ran.

Not as despised, perhaps, as his jockey Johnny Murtagh.

Septimus finished 18th with his fellow members of the mighty Coolmore team, Honolulu and Alessandro Volta, behind him.

The trio had led the field at the winning post the first time around in what appeared an astonishing tactic, and one which proved to be so.

All three were gone at the top of the straight and straggled home at the rear of the field.

The stewards then added insult to injury by questioning the jockeys and trainer Aidan O'Brien at length over their tactics.

They wanted to know if there had been any team riding going on between the three.

The punting public might have been better served if the quartet had been sat down and simply asked "what did you think you were doing?".

O'Brien and the jockeys left Australia on Tuesday night, leaving behind the devoted stable staff to walk the stiffness out of their horses.

Honolulu and Septimus had pulled up lame on Tuesday afternoon, but on Wednesday they appeared to be sound.

Of the eight internationals, the O'Brien trio stood out.

The other five performed reasonably, including the French mare Varevees who finished 14th. At least she put herself into the race, only to suffer from the hard ground.

Profound Beauty, who finished fifth, also felt the ground, but her handler David Phillips said she was in better shape on Wednesday than he feared she might be.

In the second quarantine stable, the one that housed the Luca Cumani pair Bauer and Mad Rush, and had also been home to the Caulfield Cup winner All The Good, the horses looked in similar shape, but the smiles on the staff were definitely broader.

Bauer added to his Geelong Cup victory with the closest of second placings and Mad Rush ran an honest race to finish seventh.

Cumani will definitely be back.

He said he was happy with his selection process, he just wants some luck after second placings in successive years.

O'Brien might need some convincing before he returns, and some assurances that his integrity won't be questioned and the Flemington track will be presented in a reasonable state.