British trio face strong home team in Melbourne

Preview: Australia, Tuesday 4am GMT (Live on ATR)

Flemington: Emirates Melbourne Cup (Group 1 hcap) 2m, 3yo+

BRITAIN'S three representatives are reckoned to have no better than an outside chance of adding their name to an illustrious roll of honour on Tuesday in the celebrated contest billed as the race that stops a nation.

With long-range fancies Kirklees and Cima De Triomphe ruled out over the weekend, Crime Scene, Basaltico and Munsef comprise a somewhat depleted squad as they attempt to go where no British-trained horse has gone and winning the Emirates Melbourne Cup, which takes place in the early hours of the morning UK time.

Virtually dismissed by the locals, they are even on offer at upwards of 33-1 with British-based bookmakers as they take on a home guard headed by last year's winner Viewed, one of three runners for the legendary Bart Cummings, and the South Australian-trained Alcopop.

The A$5.65m (£3.13m) event also features three horses trained until recently on these shores in the shape of Ebor runner-up Changingoftheguard, Goodwood winner Mourilyan and former Sir Michael Stoute-trained Warringah.

From a multitude of European hopefuls, only one trainer has ever won the famous Flemington two-miler, namely dual winner Dermot Weld, whose ground-breaking victory with Vintage Crop back in 1993 heralded the start of what has become an annual assault on one ofthe world's richest races.

Weld scored again in 2002 with Media Puzzle, but apart from an unlikely Japanese one-two in 2006, no horse from beyond Australasia has been able to repeat the dose. Godolphin have gone fairly close, though, with Central Park (1999) and Give The Slip (2001) both finishing second.

However, the Dubai team's challenge was sliced in half over the weekend when Saeed Bin Suroor ruled out Kirklees, leaving Crime Scene as Godolphin's sole representative under their former second jockey Kerrin McEvoy, who won the Cup in 2000 on Brew.

Blinkers are applied to Crime Scene, a one-paced sixth to Cup rival Leica Ding after making the running in the Group 3 Geelong Cup a couple of weeks ago.

Luca Cumani has suffered a couple of agonising near-misses in the last two seasons with Purple Moon and Bauer. With apparent first string Cima De Triomphe blotting his copybook in two disappointing Melbourne runs, he relies on Basaltico, never seen with a chance after racing at the rear in Geelong.

Danny Nikolic rides, while Zac Purton was a late booking for the Ian Williams-trained Munsef.

Former Ballydoyle-trained Changingoftheguard is making his debut for David Hayes and will be ridden by Glen Boss, who three successive Cups on the great Makybe Diva.

Warringah now represents Chris Waller, while Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov has moved Mourilyan from Gary Moore to South Africa's Herman Brown. He is the shortest-priced of all the ‘foreigners' at around the 20-1 mark - and the locals reckon he may have a sneaky chance.

As well as likely favourite Viewed, who added the Caulfield Cup to his laurels last month, Bart Cummings is also represented by the AJC Derby winner Roman Emperor and outsider Allez Wonder.

Australia's greatest living trainer is known to the once-a-year punter as the ‘Cups King', mainly due to his 12 victories in the country's most famous race, though he has also won the Caulfield Cup seven times among stacks of big-race triumphs over a 56-year training career.

Cummings, 81, has won 256 Group 1 event altogether, with the late TJ Smith the only Aussie trainer to do better.

Caulfield Cup-winning rider Brad Rawiller retains the ride on Viewed, while Roman Emperor is partnered by Hugh Bowman, who rode 31 winners in Britain in 2007 during a stint with Mick Channon.

Bowman achieved a notable treble last season, topping both the Sydney metropolitan and New South Wales state-wide premierships, as well as being top rider across the entire country with 150 winners.

Kerrin McEvoy's sister-in-law Michelle Payne, who a winner for Jane Chapple-Hyam in Britain this summer, is trying to become the first woman to ride the Melbourne Cup winner. Shekeeps the ride on Allez Wonder, whom she partnered to win the Group 1 Toorak Handicap

The other leading contenders are led by Alcopop, a five-year-old son of 1994 Cup winner Jeune who represents the little-known team of rookie trainer Jake Stephens and jockey Dom Tourneur, who has partnered him to a pair of victories at the spring carnival.

Alcopop won a Group 2 handicap at Caulfield on October 10.

Shocking forced himself into contention with an impressive victory in the Group 3 Lexus Stakes at Flemington on Saturday.

David Toft's spotlight selection: Viewed