Melbourne CupEfficient made amends for a late withdrawal last year as he denied British raider Purple Moon a historic win in the Melbourne Cup.

The Graeme Rogerson-trained winner was taken out of the Flemington feature on the morning of the race last season, but there was no such misfortune this time.

Luca Cumani's Purple Moon looked a likely winner when hitting the front just over a furlong out in the two-mile contest but Efficient came with a powerful finish to get up on the line under Michael Rodd.

The Aidan O'Brien-trained Mahler raced up with the pace throughout and kept on well to claim third.

Rodd, who was landing the biggest success of his career, said: "I just won the Melbourne Cup - I can't believe it! To do it on this little horse for Lloyd Williams (owner), who gave me so much when I first came down here, it's just unbelievable," he said.

"Lloyd Williams brought me down here 12 months ago and put enough trust in me to put me on Efficient in the (Victoria) Derby and put me in a position to be back on the horse a year later to win the Melbourne Cup - it's just an absolute dream.

"There's no one who deserves this more than Lloyd. It's just a dream."

The Amanda Perrett-trained Tungsten Strike took up a prominent position for Darryll Holland, setting the early pace while Mahler settled on his heels for Stephen Baster.

That pair, along with Sculptor, disputed the lead until Baster decided to make his move turning for home as Tungsten Strike dropped away.

Mahler pulled a couple of lengths clear but Damien Oliver was just starting to get serious with Purple Moon, who had travelled well throughout in the chasing pack.

Cumani's runner cruised through to take it up over a furlong out and soon had the measure of Mahler.

However, Rodd conjured an extra effort from Efficient and the four-year-old thundered down the outside to shade Purple Moon on the line.

Owner Williams was watching at home and said: "(We're) absolutely delighted here, we've got a great team out there who put this together. Michael rode this horse absolutely to plan. We wanted him to get him to the outside as we realised that he only travels when he is going round horses and, when he leaned out, Michael did a wonderful job."

Coolmore's Tom Magnier was full of praise for Mahler's effort and is expecting the three-year-old to rank highly next term. He said: "Stephen gave him a great ride - the run was absolutely the way we wanted, we knew he had to take it up.

"Aidan is delighted with the run and thinks he's going to be a serious horse. Efficient is a good horse who won the Derby down here and Purple Moon has been the talking horse down here all week. The two of them gave great runs - we wouldn't be disappointed with Mahler."

Mahler's third-placed finish tops the seventh O'Brien achieved with Yeats last year and Magnier expects the Ballydoyle team to continue the chase for Melbourne glory.

He added: "We came down here last year with Yeats and we learnt a lot. We probably learnt a lot this year so I would say we will go back to the drawing board now and we might even do things different next year. We are definitely getting closer to the mark."

O'Brien praised Baster's ride aboard Mahler: "Stephen gave him a lovely ride. This has whetted my appetite to come back next year, maybe with this horse. We'll have to go and find another one too," O'Brien said.

The Ballydoyle team were due to have two runners in the race but Scorpion broke down in training last week and is unlikely to run again.

Asked whether he believed the five-year-old could have won, O'Brien added: "Who knows? He may have run a good race but wasn't the winner impressive?"

Tungsten Strike eventually finished last while favourite Master O'Reilly never landed a blow in eighth.