The best of the home challenge: what the Australians are saying

The betting makes pretty bleak reading for Australian racing fans. Only ten of the 24 spots in the Cup are taken by British and Irish raiders, but nine of them fill the top 11 positions in the market.

The James Cummings-trained Avilius, the mount of Glyn Schofield, and Chris Waller's Youngstar, partnered by Craig Williams, are the only locally trained horses shorter than 25-1 with British and Irish bookmakers, and even then Avilius was bred in Britain and trained in France by Andre Fabre until this year – not that that would stop the Australians claiming it as a victory of their own.

Were Cummings to add his name to the trophy his legendary grandfather Bart lifted 12 times and give Sheikh Mohammed a first win in the race just 18 months after hiring him, it would be a special moment, and after three winners on Derby day he is in red-hot form.

Waller is most famous for training Winx, but he is one of Australia's powerhouse operations and along with Youngstar saddles the ten-year-old Who Shot Thebarman, who was a non-runner in last year's race but had contested the previous three Melbourne Cups.

He is the mount of the talented Ben Melham, while Waller's other runner Finche – another former Fabre horse – is the mount of Zac Purton after Hugh Bowman opted to partner Marmelo.

The huge operation of David and Ben Hayes and Tom Dabernig relies on the one-time Richard Hannon-trained Ventura Storm, while Michael Moroney saddles Sound Check, who is well in at the weights with the much shorter Best Solution on Grosser Preis von Berlin form, and the former Mikel Delzangles-trained Vengeur Masque.

Darren Weir, who last won the race with the Michelle Payne-ridden Prince Of Penzance in 2015, has booked Damien Oliver for Red Cardinal after his original mount Red Verdon failed to make the line-up.

Australian wonderwoman Gai Waterhouse, in conjunction with Adrian Bott, will saddle lively roughie Runaway, who did just that with the bet365 Geelong Cup in which Withhold broke a blood vessel.

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