85 horses remain in Melbourne Cup contention.(credit:
doublebug)
As many as 85 horses have been left in the 2009 Melbourne Cup.
The latest declaration stage has seen most of the big guns keep their place in the field and as “The Race That Stops A Nation” draws closer; it is Efficient who is the new Melbourne Cup favourite.
To be run on the first Tuesday of November, Efficient won the 2007 renewal of the big race and had not won since that big day. However, he finally put an end to that when he was an impressive winner of the Turnbull Stakes last weekend and the bookies are not taking any chances on him landing the race for a second time. He is a 10/1 shot with leading British bookmaker Stan James.
Meanwhile, there will once again be a strong European brigade ready to take on the Aussies and all the leading trainers have kept runners in the race. Godolphin, Aidan O’Brien, Luca Cumani, Dermot Weld and Gary Moore have all left runners in the race, though it is a surprise to see that Weld has taken Profound Beauty out of the race.
Cima De Triomphe looks likely to be Britain’s main chance of a winner in the race, he is trading at 23.00 on Betfair.