Tasmanian trainer Walter McShane won the feature with Norsqui, upsetting a talented field to book a berth in the Caulfield Cup later this year.

It was a fairytale victory for the 75-year-old McShane, who felt Norsqui was probably out of his depth in this class. "I didn't think we could do it," he said.

The cup victory came in front of an estimated 9000 punters at the Mornington Racing Club, with Norsqui a $26 chance.

Norsqui had failed to live up to expectations in his previous two starts in Hobart, finishing second in the Summer Cup before failing to kick on in the Jockey Club Cup.

But with leading hoop Chris Symons in the saddle, the five year old proved too strong for the Michael Moroney-trained Drunken Sailor ($9.50) over the 2400m journey. Cranbourne-trained Sea Galleon ($4.60) finished third after being held up in traffic mid-race.

The victory earns Norsqui automatic entry into October's Caulfield Cup, but McShane is not looking too far ahead. "We'll play around with him and then probably send him to Adelaide," he said. "We'll find a race for him somewhere."

Pre-race favourite Power O'Raylee finished well back in the field after being interfered with early.

Last year's Mornington Cup was won by West Australian horse Guyno.

Another feature race on the 10-race card was the $250,000 Inglis Premier Stakes (1200m) with talented Sydney horse Snitzerland victorious.

For the second year in a row, a visitor from the west conquered a feature on Mornington Cup Day when Like an Eagle ($3.30) stormed home to win the Listed Bayside Jeep Hareeba Stakes (1200m).

"It's great to actually get him over the line. As much as we were really happy with the last run, it was just disappointing to go down by that much, so it's great to actually get him up and win a Listed race over here," Trainer Clint Price said.