After rain throughout the afternoon the track was downgraded to slow early in the meeting, but it was not enough to prevent Cyclone Ned from showing his customary early dash from box No.1 as he raced to a clear early lead. From there Cyclone Ned was never threatened, racing away to win by 2 lengths over Your Show Jake in the night's fastest time.

It was the sixth victory for Cyclone Ned, prepared by Keysborough-based mentor Geoff Mitchell, in 16 starts at his home track.

Lynlea's King was also impressive in leading his prelude all the way to win by 4 lengths in 30.05 seconds. Kinka Bale won the night's opening prelude in 30.27 seconds, while Jamaican Bolt and Lord Ducal were winners in 30.34 and 30.28 seconds respectively.

The winner of each Melbourne Cup prelude earns a berth in the heats of Australia's richest race, the $250,000 group 1 Melbourne Cup, the final of which will be run on November 26.

The next Melbourne Cup prelude series will be run on October 1.