Three things to take out of a historic Melbourne Cup

Joseph O'Brien is the real deal

As a jockey, Joseph O'Brien piggybacked father Aidan's success to a significant extent - no teenager, regardless of talent, gets to sit on several Classic winners without some sort of privilege. The impact he has made as a trainer has been just as deep and just as quick, but importantly he has done it more or less on his own.

It would be fair to point out that owners like Lloyd Williams do not knock on the door of many trainers in their early-20s who have just taken out a licence, but the heights O'Brien has hit with Rekindling are the mark of a handler with an exceptional talent, irrespective of the ammunition.

It is less than 18 months since Joseph O'Brien sent out his first runners in his own name. Stepping out of his father's shadow in such a short space of time seems unlikely to be his biggest achievement, but it is a considerable one nonetheless.

Expect the Ebor winner every year

Fairytales don't end with a fifth-placed finish, but it isn't all about doing Hollywood screenwriters' jobs for them and Nakeeta's fine run in defeat, as well as being a superb advert for his emergent trainer Iain Jardine, further shows that big handicap form in Britain is transferable to Flemington.

Heartbreak City was second last year after winning the Ebor and now Nakeeta has followed him to claim around £100,000, taking him over a quarter of a million pounds for his last two runs. Not at all bad for a 103-rated horse who had become known as something of a perennial bridesmaid.

As the Ebor becomes increasingly concentrated with highly-rated sorts, it does resemble Europe's equivalent to the Melbourne Cup and whoever is successful on the Knavesmire next August, they will surely think of Flemington first.

Europeans increasingly hold sway

The Irish dominance of this year's race will no doubt make the headlines, but it is well worth emphasising just how far ahead of the rest the principals came.

There were almost nine lengths between Rekindling and Libran, who in eighth place was the second best of the Australian runners. Furthermore, like fourth-placed Big Duke he also began his racing career in Britain.

The staying division at home is still seen as in need of structural underpinning, as we saw with recent announcements to boost prize-money, but it's clear no one breeds for stamina like the Europeans.

As such, there is every reason to think that there will be plenty of more successful raids in future as a higher concentration of better-quality, more suitably-bred horses make the journey to Australia. The British hoodoo will be broken eventually, even if just by sheer weight of numbers.