We are not including Kiwis in this as they get "adopted" at this time of the year.
There are 5 runners who are trained overseas and they all have strong chances in this year's edition.
Vauban and Absurde come from Ireland and are repeat offenders. Trainer Willie Mullins says they are in better form than last year and he leans towards Vauban. Both of these have proven they have no issues with the trip and Vauban has won at G1 level plus he has drawn the winningest gate (11). Forget last year's run – he's a much happier chappie this year. And has top UK jockey William Buick coming for the ride. Absurde finished 7th last year and has Kerrin McEvoy, who has won this race three times already, in charge of the steering. Could win and must go into the mutliples.
Warp Speed is the only Japanese runner this year. He can certainly get the trip. He's by Drefong out of a Deep Impact Mare. Had a warm-up in the Caulfield Cup and it was obvious he would be much better suited by Flemington. He's a 5yo Bay Horse which fits the profile.
The two English raiders have both done very well in their lead-ups. Sea King won the Bendigo Cup in great fashion and Onesmootheoperator was brilliant in the Geelong Cup.
It would not be a major shock to see any of these win. By the way our "profile" for a Melbourne Cup winner is a 5yo Bay horse aged 4 or 5 with a saddle cloth number between 4 and 12 and gate 11 or 14. Preferably not favourite. And there isn't a runner who satisfies all these requirements in this year's field so pick the parts you think the most important, And there are also a number of winners who ran in the Cup the previous year.
We will look at them in the context of the full field later.
