Melbourne Cup 2014 Results: Winner, Prize Money Payouts and Order of Finish

Protectionist reigned supreme down under on Tuesday, but the 2014 Melbourne Cup was overshadowed by the deaths of two competing horses.

The four-year-old colt won the famous race at Flemington Racecourse, per Racing Victoria:

However, the sad losses of Admire Rakti and Araldo left few in the mood to celebrate.

Jockey Ryan Moore orchestrated the perfect strategy. He and Protectionist bode their time in the middle of the pack during the early stages of the race. Moore ensured that the colt would have more than enough left in the tank for the final stretch.

My Ambivalent set the pace before falling back as the race went on. As that happened, Moore made his move. He and Protectionist got on the inside rail and then burst through, eventually opening up a big lead on Red Cadeaux and Who Shot Thebarman.

The final result wasn't even close, per The Sydney Morning Herald:

You can see the finishers below. The prize money info is courtesy of The Australian's Chris Kohler.

	Horse	Jockey	Winnings (AUD)
Win	Protectionist	Ryan Moore	$3,600,000
Place	Red Cadeaux	Gerald Mosse	$900,000
Show	Who Shot Thebarman	Glen Boss	$450,000
Fourth	Signoff	Joao Moreira	$250,000
Fifth	Willing Foe	James McDonald	$125,000
Sixth	Precedence	Michael Rodd	$125,000
Seventh	Araldo	Dwayne Dunn	$125,000
Eighth	Au Revoir	Glyn Schofield	$125,000
Ninth	Seismos	Craig Newitt	$125,000
10th	Fawkner	Nicholas Hall	$125,000
11th	Opinion	Tye Angland	---
12th	Gatewood	William Buick	---
13th	Lucia Valentina	Kerrin McEvoy	---
14th	Mutual Regard	Damien Oliver	---
15th	Brambles	Luke Nolen	---
16th	Unchain My Heart	Dean Yendall	---
17th	My Ambivalent	Andrea Atzeni	---
18th	Junoob	Hugh Bowman	---
19th	Lidari	Ben Melham	---
20th	Royal Diamond	Steven Arnold	---
21st	Mr O'ceirin	Chad Schofield	---
22nd	Admire Rakti	Zac Purton	---

With his victory, Protectionist became the first German horse ever to win the Melbourne Cup, per Sky News Australia:

Daniel Hurst of The Guardian joked that Tuesday's result was a blow to the idea of free trade:

"[Protectionist] has won very easy, that's a very good horse," Moore said after the race, per The Guardian. "Obviously it’s very special."

The positivity from Protectionist's win was short-lived, however, after Admire Rakti, who was a heavy favorite to win but finished in last, died.

According to Patrick Bartley, Adam Pengilly and Ronny Lerner of The Age in Melbourne, Admire Rakti headed back to the stables after the race and passed away. Veterinary surgeons believe the cause of death to be a massive heart attack or internal bleeding.

"Obviously there will have to be an autopsy done and the vets are with it now," said Terry Bailey, Racing Victoria's chief steward. "He collapsed while they were unsaddling him back at the stalls. The autopsy will tell the story."

The race was later hit by more sad news as Araldo had to be put down after breaking his leg. Chris Roots of The Age provided quotes from trainer Michael Moroney, who explained that Araldo kicked a fence when spooked by a flag-waving fan:

"

They've run 150 Melbourne Cups and nothing like that has happened before. It's shattering for my owners, my staff and myself. We have just lost a great young stayer who was lightly raced and had just run seventh in the Cup. My staff are shattered. Everyone here is sticking together. We don't blame anyone.

"

This is the second year in a row a horse has died following the Melbourne Cup. In 2013, veterinarians euthanized Verema after the mare snapped her cannon bone.

Adding to the macabre atmosphere at Flemington was a second post-race health problem. An Australian fan waving a flag scared Araldo as the horse was heading back to the stables. Araldo jumped the rail and suffered what appears to be a major injury, per Andrew Bensley of Sky Racing:

Those two events marred Protectionist's victory and cast a pall on the entire day of racing. Many will likely call into question Flemington's post-race procedures and debate to a larger extent the general viability of horse racing:

Protection's win will likely be remembered for some time, but the death of Admire Rakti and injury to Araldo will go down in infamy.