THE China Inner Mongolia Rider Horse Group, led Mr Lang Lin would have celebrated long into Saturday night after landing the A$3 million BMW Caulfield Cup with the Tasmanian-bred Mongolian Khan, who was sold as a $9,000 weanling, a NZ$140,000 yearling and finally as a $220,000 two-year-old at the New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale in 2013.

The four-year-old son of Holy Roman Emperor out of the Centaine mare Centafit, a full-sister to the 1994 Hong Kong Derby winner Super Fit, now stands unbeaten at 2,400 metres (one mile, four furlongs).

His three starts over that ground have netted the New Zealand and Australian Derbys as well as Saturday’s pinnacle of the Caulfield racing calendar.

“I was very happy with the horse going into the race,” said trainer Murray Baker. “He’d had a couple of runs at Caulfield and is very fit. He has always given me the impression he would be a 2,400-metre horse. He’ll be in the Melbourne Cup next and he certainly shapes like he can go the extra distance.”

Settled seventh in the 18-horse field, which had the Irish-bred trio of Quest For More, Dibayani and the Metropolitan winner Magic Hurricane as reserves, New Zealand jockey Opie Bosson was the first to move at the 700-metre mark. Keeping the pressure on, Mongolian Khan was vying for the lead on the bend to hit the front a long way from home.

Trip To Paris and Our Ivanhoe were up to the fight as the remainder had given the leader too much ground at the top of the straight. Running on strongly, right to the line, Mongolian Khan held off the Irish-bred Trip To Paris, defeating the Champs Elysees gelding by a half-length with the German-bred Soldier Hollow entire Our Ivanhowe a further length and a quarter back in third. Snow Sky, held up momentarily at the top of the straight was fifth, just ahead of the Japanese-trained Fame Game, whose rider, Zac Purton had stewards questioning both his vigor and the race tactics.

“Opie rode him perfectly,” said Baker. “The plan was to go early and make it a stayers’ race in the straight. We thought if we could get to the front, nothing would get past him. It’s one I’ve always wanted to win. It’s the strongest 2,400-metre handicap in Australasia - a great race.”

Mongolian Khan, a winner of nine of his 14 starts and $3.88 million, will now head straight to the Emirates Melbourne Cup.

EYECATCHER PARIS

Trip To Paris continued Ed Dunlop’s sequence of seconds in feature Australian handicaps with his eyecatching second to Mongolian Khan in the BMW Caulfield Cup. It’s a pattern travelling head man Robin Trevor-Jones believes can change sooner rather than later.

“I told everybody before he wasn’t slow. Of course he can (win the Melbourne Cup). Remember, he stands next to a big chesnut in the next stall who’ll take some beating as well,” said Trevor-Jones referring to three-time Emirates Melbourne Cup runner-up Red Cadeaux. “It’s going to be very sweet when we hit that first spot. It’ll come.”

As the only horse in the Caulfield Cup to break 35 seconds for the final 600 metres (he ran 34.72sec), markets took note and revised Trip To Paris into equal second favourite for the Melbourne Cup at $6 alongside Mongolian Khan, with Fame Game as the $4.60 favourite.

WEIGHT FOR KHAN

Mongolian Khan has been penalised 1kg for the Emirates Melbourne Cup. His revised handicap is now 56kg as he seeks to become the first horse since Ethereal in 2001 to complete the Caulfield-Melbourne Cup double. “It was a tremendous win by Mongolian Khan, but a number of other runners produced outstanding performances behind him including Trip To Paris and Japanese stayer Fame Game who ran home strongly into sixth place,” said Racing Victoria chief handicapper Greg Carpenter. “The only four-year-old to have won the Melbourne Cup with more than 56kg in the last 50 years was Bart Cummings’ champion Galilee who carried 56.5kg to victory in 1966.” Last year’s winner Protectionist carried 56.5kg as a northern hemisphere four-year-old.

PROTECTIONIST OUT

Protectionist, winner of last year’s Emirates Melbourne Cup, is out of this year’s race following his Caulfield Cup run to finish 15th almost 10 lengths from the winner. His trainer Kris Lees ended any hope of running when speaking to RSN radio: “He came up really lame across his back-end on Sunday morning but the pain in his backside is secondary and he’s basically got severe bruising in all four fetlocks.

“He needs a minimum of six months paddock rest and a proper break to get him right. It is not a problem that I have seen a lot of and it usually occurs in younger horses, related to growing.”