Tom Segal has a cracker for the Flemington feature

The Irish, French, Germans, Japanese and horses trained in New Zealand have all won the Melbourne Cup, but so far the 'race that stops a nation' has proved a step too far for British-trained runners.

However, that is surely only an anomaly because Red Cadeaux, Bauer and Purple Moon have all gone agonisingly close and this year we look to have a serious chance with Michael Bell's Big Orange, who was a gallant fifth from a dire draw 12 months ago.

It could be that Big Orange is a better horse now than he was then and, all things being equal, he will go well. However, it's his running style that worries me because year in year out we try and make the Melbourne Cup into a staying race and our front-runners have nearly always totally blown out.