Poised Hugh wins

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Champion Sydney jockey Hugh Bowman had to wait until the final day of the Melbourne Cup Carnival for his first Cup-week win but he did it in style aboard $12 chance Poised To Win in race two, the Phar Lap Club Plate (1600 metres).

Bowman timed his run to perfection on the seven-year-old son of More Than Ready after the well-supported $3.90 fav Lucky Thunder kicked to the lead inside the 400 metres. Poised To Win wore down the leader to score by three-quarters of a length and gave co-trainers Terry and Karina O'Sullivan their first Melbourne winner in six months. $17 chance Playwright (Steven King) battled away for third.

In the first race, jockey Andrew Mallyon rode his first Flemington winner in four years when he scored on $61 chance General Truce in the $150,000 Maribyrnong Plate (1000 metres). It was a career highlight for the grandson of former champion rider Mick Mallyon and his first win ever at the Melbourne Cup Carnival.

Despite a first-start win at Bendigo, General Truce, a son of Brief Truce, was unwanted by punters who plonked heavily on South Australian galloper Stirling Grove, a 9-length winner at its only start. As it turned out, they got their money back as Stirling Grove was withdrawn at the barrier.

It was a dominant win by General Truce which defeated $6 Sweet Cheeks (Damien Oliver) a length and a half with three-quarters of a length to $6 She's Got Gears which ran on for third. The winner's time was a speedy 57.23 seconds.

The Gai Waterhouse-trained Brightexpectations finished up favourite at $4 but after showing early pace, it weakened to finish fourth.