Almandin is now Cup favourite

ALMANDIN is poised to become only the sixth multiple Melbourne Cup winner and provide owner Lloyd Williams with his sixth win in the race that stops the nation at Flemington on Tuesday.

The final field for the $6.2 million Melbourne Cup (3200m) was declared last night, with Almandin the $7.50 favourite with UBET to go back-to-back in the great race.

Williams has called on riding legend Frankie Dettori to partner Almandin after Damien Oliver was suspended on Cox Plate Day.

“I have been trying for so many years to win the Melbourne Cup, with my first attempt in 1993 — that’s almost 25 years,’’ Dettori said.

More than 100,000 race fans are expected to flock to Flemington on Tuesday for the 157th running of the Melbourne Cup.

The international raiders are numerically powerful but only two of the 11 runners have had success at Group 1 level — Johannes Vermeer and Wicklow Brave.

The Aidan O’Brien-trained Johannes Vermeer won the Criterium International (1400m) in France as a juvenile and has trained on to be runner-up in an English St Leger two years ago and his luckless third in the Caulfield Cup earlier this spring.

O’Brien, the Irish training genius who has set a world record this year with 27 Group 1 wins and counting, has never won a Melbourne Cup, coming closest with Mahler who ran third in 2007.

The O’Brien stable rates Johannes Vermeer as a superior horse to Mahler.

“I don’t see it (3200m) being a problem,’’ said O’Brien’s stable representative TJ Comerford.