"Today we have had theatre" said champion Sydney trainer Chris Waller, and there was plenty of drama at Flemington after his Victoria Derby winner Preferment added to his group 1 tally by securing the Australian Cup on protest at Flemington.
First past the post was outsider Awesome Rock ($26), who had made almost every yard of the running under Stephen Baster before holding on by a short half head to see off the determined challenge of the Hughie Bowman partnered Preferment ($7), with Rising Romance coming back to form to take third place at $9 under Craig Williams. 
The principals had staged a battle over the last 400 metres, and it looked at first as though the Australian Cup, a race that is noted for producing its fair share of boilovers, had produced another one.
It would also have been a fairytale success story for the father and son training partnership of Leon and Troy Corstens.
Corstens senior had been for so long the head man at legendary trainer Bart Cummings' Melbourne stables and had been associated with so many Australian Cup champions sent out by the master down the decades. This would have been his first in his own right.
But even as the family partnership were celebrating, their joy was cut short when the protest siren sounded - the third time in a row at a Flemington meeting when stewards were called to determine the outcome of a major race.
Three weeks ago Palentino lost the CS Hayes Stakes on an objection. Last week the Darren Weir trained colt survived a protest to hold on to the Australian Guineas, stewards finding in Palentino's favour when connections of runner-up Tarzino objected.
Terry Bailey and his team had shown on those occasions that they were prepared to make tough calls where necessary, and they did not shirk the issue this time.
Waller and Bowman are well versed in winning group 1 races, but their hunger for success never abates, and the pair were cool and calm as they argued why the result should be reversed.
Bowman said that Baster's mount had caused him inconvenience and had interfered with him from the 400-metre mark to the line, arguing that Awesome Rock had drifted to the centre of the track and forced him to stop riding.
Waller augmented his case by pointing out that Preferment had not only been impeded but that Bowman had been placed in danger and had to ease off to ensure he did not run into further problems.
The Corstens camp, not surprisingly, suggested that was over-egging the pudding and that Bowman would have headed to the centre of the track anyway in search of better ground. 
In the end the stewards solved their conundrum by pointing out that while Bowman's claims of 400 metres worth of interference were not warranted, there definitely was contact and that the interference cost Preferment more than the narrow margin by which he was beaten.
"We don't have an issue [with how the race was run from the 400 to the 300]," Bailey said, "nor in the final 200 metres. Our problem is the section between the 300 and the 200 metres," he added, delivering a judgement that Awesome Rock had shifted out and caused the interference which, in the end, meant the stewards had to uphold the protest.
Afterwards Waller said that the thrill wasn't quite the same as winning on the track, but that he was happy to take a group 1 race like the Australian Cup, which only added to Preferment's stud value.
"Its heartbreaking [for the Corstens] ... but Preferment has come back terrific. I don't know how anyone else would have seen it. He was denied his fair chance of the race ... our horse is tremendous over 2000 metres."
"Its not the ideal way [to win], but its still a pretty good feeling. I was confident. I don't think there will be much debate about it. Our horse had to come out from a safety perspective and to ensure he had every right to hold his position. There's a lot of ups and downs. Today is theatre. We have certainly had a good reward."