Makybe Diva, a 5-year-old mare trained by David Hall, won the 143rd running of the $3.2 million Melbourne Cup Handicap on Tuesday before a record crowd of 122,736 at Flemington Racecourse.

Ridden by Greg Boss, the 7-1 shot rallied in traffic to lead approaching the furlong marker to defeat another 5-year-old mare, She's Archie, by 1-1/4 lengths with the Alan Jarvis-trained British invader and highweight Jardines Lookout three lengths further back in third. The time for the two miles on good ground was 3:19.90.

Mamool could become the first British-trained winner of Australia's biggest race, the Group 1 Tooheys New Melbourne Cup, after he drew well, in post 11, for the two-mile handicap at Flemington Race Course in Melbourne on Tuesday.

Mamool, the prerace favorite, is one of four Northern Hemisphere-trained horses in a 24-runner field for a race that has twice been won by Irish raiders - in 1993 by Vintage Crop and in 2002 by Media Puzzle. Trained in England by Saeed bin Suroor for Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin operation, Mamool will carry co-highweight of 122 pounds.

Godolphin has brought leading British juvenile filly Carry on Katie and promising middle-distance horse Doyen on board for its 2004 season.

The road to the French Derby starts with Saturday's Criterium International. Since its inception two years ago, the Criterium International, a one-mile Group 1 at Saint-Cloud, has been won by Act One and Dalakhani. Act One finished second to Sulamani in the 2002 French Derby, while Dalakhani took this year's French Derby on his way to the European 3-year-old championship.

The Group 2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte on Friday boils down to a battle between three juvenile group race winners in Whipper, Villadolide, and Mokabra.

Whipper, who took the Group 1 Prix Morny at Deauville in August, holds a slight edge. Although only fifth last time in the Group 1 Middle Park Stakes at Newmarket, he was beaten by just two lengths and was closing fast behind Three Valleys. A son of Miesque's Son, Whipper should appreciate Maisons-Laffitte's straight seven furlongs.

Although High Chaparral only shared victory in the Breeders' Cup Turf with Johar, his effort moved him into first place in the World Series Racing Championship with 25 points, five ahead of Sulamani, who was fifth in the Turf.

Fields of Omagh, a 15-1 shot who had come back from two serious injuries, defeated Defier by a neck to win the Group 1, $2.1 million Cox Plate at Moonee Valley in Australia. Lonhro, the 1-2 favorite, finished third.

The South African mare Paraca set a fast pace in the Cox Plate, run on turf made soft by heavy rain. Fields of Omagh and jockey Steven King took the lead with a quarter-mile to run in the 1 1/4-mile race and Defier chased them home. Trained by Tony McEvoy, Fields of Omagh finished the race in 2:07.60 and paid $32 to win.

The stalwart Irish stayer Vinnie Roe will attempt to collect the fifth St. Leger trophy of his career at Longchamp on Sunday in the $177,000 Group 1 Prix Royal-Oak.

Vinnie Roe won the the 1 15/16-mile Royal-Oak, the French equivalent of the English St. Leger Stakes, as a 3-year-old in 2001 and has also won the Irish St. Leger three times, including its most recent running Sept. 13.

The determination as to which horses will be deserving of the title "champion" moved into one of a number of semifinal stages at Santa Anita on Saturday with the 20th running of the Breeders' Cup.

In the new global era of racing, rarely is there ever run a single race that can produce a clear-cut champion. Yet the lords of American racing in charge at Breeders' Cup Ltd. want us to think that we have seen not one but eight world championship events at Santa Anita this weekend.

American Post continues his late bid for the European juvenile championship at Doncaster on Saturday in the $420,000 Racing Post Trophy.

A Criquette Head-Maarek-trained son of Bering, American Post was supplemented for $29,000 to the one-mile Group 1 event after his four-length triumph in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere (formerly the Grand Criterium) at Longchamp on Arc Day. American Post will be ridden for the first time by Christophe Soumillon.