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Melbourne Cup will be run at 04:00 on Tuesday
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Ryan Moore is aboard strong favourite Vauban
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Connections delighted with his preparation
Melbourne Cup (Flemington 04:00) - Vauban
You'd be happy enough with his draw in three, but there are pros and cons to being housed in any stall, so let's focus on what we know. And that is that Vauban looks to hold excellent credentials, second to none, though maybe connections of Gold Trip and Without A Fight, and others, may disagree.
Whether or not he deserves to be so short in the betting in a 24-runner handicap in which luck in running can be a big factor, I'll let others decide. I only ride them.
But you'd rather be on a 5/23.50 favourite than a 50/151.00 outsider and this 160-rated Grade 1-winning hurdler was pretty awesome for me when winning the Copper Horse at Royal Ascot from his stablemate and subsequent Ebor winner Absurde, who also runs here, and he set himself up nicely for this when winning his Group 3 at Naas, a race in which I actually rode the third, Peking Opera.
Obviously, the Ascot win came off a mark of just 101 and this is a far deeper handicap and sterner test for him, but it seems like they are delighted with the way he has travelled and has settled in - obviously I haven't seen him in the flesh there yet, having been in Santa Anita, but I have watched the videos of him galloping - and here is hoping he can give me my first winner of this race since Protectionist in 2014. My only win in the race, in fact.