The right trainer, the right horse, the right dose of nostalgia.

The trouble was, it came four days late - or, perhaps, five days early.

Precedence, the only hope Bart Cummings had of making this year's Melbourne Cup his 13th, won the Group Three Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2600m) by a short-half-head having missed a place in the big race by a similar margin.

The Flemington win earned his owners a respectable cheque of $380,000, which included a $100,000 bonus for being balloted out of last Tuesday's race.

And it also earned Cummings and his co-trainer and grandson James the right to run him in next year's Melbourne Cup.

Precedence was Cummings' first Queen Elizabeth winner since My Sir Avon 31 years ago and saved him from a rare whitewash in the week of racing with which he is synonymous.

It also came five days before Cummings' 86th birthday. But it almost didn't come at all.

Precedence ($6.50) survived a 250m struggle with the favourite Sertorius, nosing that horse out on the line and then surviving a protest.

According to James Cummings, Precedence's win is all down to his grandfather and the training methods that have produced those 12 Melbourne Cup wins.

"He's a great credit to the stable and to the philosophy we have for training our horses," he said.

"We keep them happy, that's what Bart's always told me."

Precedence had done his best to make this year's Cup field, rediscovering top form in the Moonee Valley Cup, only to fail to make the field by a kilogram-or-so.

"Bart was pretty disappointed the horse didn't get into the Melbourne Cup, but this is pretty good consolation," his grandson said.

A decision will be made in the next few days on whether Precedence runs again this preparation.

But it's a reasonable bet one has already been made to set him for the 2014 Cup.