The Melbourne Cup carnival is unique in Australia, not just for its namesake but for the other 36 races over four days that surround the main event on the first Tuesday in November.

The Cup is the world's richest handicap and attracts the best stayers from Australasia and the northern hemisphere.

In recent years it has been won by horses from Ireland, France and Japan.

This year heralded a return to the tough New Zealand-bred Australian-trained horse with the added twist of a female jockey.

Michelle Payne won aboard long-shot Prince Of Penzance, trained by Darren Weir, a man who honed his craft on Victorian bush tracks.

It is a story which will be told for many years to come and overshadowed some of the other fine achievements in the other seven Group One races over the week.

After several near misses, Mick Price trained his first Victoria Derby winner, Tarzino.

The colt was the raging favourite and lived up to the hype for his trainer and jockey Craig Newitt who went to Flemington having taken just one ride for the day.

Newitt wanted to to devote all his attention to Tarzino to reward Price, a trainer who stuck by him when others did not after a lengthy disqualification for misleading a stewards' inquiry.

The sprint race on Derby day has become a target for breeders with three-year-olds running in the Coolmore Stud Stakes.

Chris Waller had won the previous two, making stallions of Zoustar and Brazen Beau.

Godolphin's Exosphere was odds-on but it was Waller again, this time with a gelding called Japonisme owned by the Ingham family who have been part of his journey to the top of Australian racing.

"It is my first Group One win for the Inghams' cerise colours and it is very special," Waller said.

Waller caused a similar upset in the other Group One sprint of the carnival, the Darley Classic.

This time the favourite was Chautauqua but it was Delectation who got his head in front.

"He is a horse who just loves straight-track racing," Waller said.

Sydney's premier trainer had no luck in the Melbourne Cup with Grand Marshal one of the worst affected by a shift from Frankie Dettori on the eventual runner-up Max Dynamite.

Grand Marshal was Jim Cassidy's last ride in the race he has won twice with the veteran jockey announcing he would retire after he rode in Thursday's Oaks.

Unfortunately he didn't get the chance to go out with a Group One win after Dawnie Perfect was scratched on race morning.

Damien Oliver, who is in an elite group of four along with Cassidy to ride more than 100 Group One winners in Australia, steered the Ciaron Maher-trained Jameka to win the Classic.

It was the second successive Oaks for Maher who saddled Set Square a year earlier.

The Emirates Stakes is the final Group One race of the carnival and brought some joy to veteran New Zealand trainer Murray Baker when Turn Me Loose led all the way to beat Myer Classic winner Politeness.

Baker had experienced one of his biggest highs when Mongolian Khan won the Caulfield Cup but the four-year-old missed the chance to try for the big double with a bout of colic.

For one international trainer there was joy when French horse Gailo Chop won Mackinnon Stakes. For another there was heartbreak when three-time Cup runner-up Red Cadeaux broke down in the Flemington straight.

While his racing career is over, the popular Red Cadeaux continues to improve after surgery to repair a fractured sesamoid.

MELBOURNE CUP CARNIVAL GROUP ONE WINNERS

Victoria Derby: Winner: Tarzino. Trainer: Mick Price. Jockey: Craig Newitt.

Mackinnon Stakes: Gailo Chop. Antoine De Watrigant. Ben Melham.

Coolmore Stud Stakes: Japonisme. Chris Waller. Glyn Schofield.

Myer Classic: Politeness. Robert Smerdon. Dwayne Dunn.

Melbourne Cup: Prince Of Penzance. Darren Weir. Michelle Payne.

VRC Oaks: Jameka. Ciaron Maher. Damien Oliver.

Darley Classic: Delectation. Chris Waller. James McDonald.

Emirates Stakes: Turn Me Loose. Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman. Kerrin McEvoy.