Marmelo making gains on favourites
THE big dollars have flowed in for the international Melbourne Cup contenders with Marmelo closing in on race favouritism and Wall Of Fire also attracting considerable post-barrier draw cash.
Lightweight Irish runner Wall Of Fire, who ran second in his first Australian outing in the Group 2 Herbert Power Stakes (2400m) at Caulfield last month, has found plenty of friends with bookmakers taking bets of $3000 and $2000 at $13 after the barrier draw on Saturday.
The raider has been backed from $31 into $13 since UBET opened its Melbourne Cup market.
Wall Of Fire, to be ridden by Craig Williams who still chasing his maiden Melbourne Cup, has won over distances out to 2800m.
He carried 60kg to victory at York in England last year.
But one of the most popular runners is Marmelo, who has firmed into $9 with UBET, just behind Almandin ($8) and Humidor ($9).
Marmelo, trained in England by Hughie Morrison, will again be ridden by star Aussie hoop Hugh Bowman who opted to stay on board after he flashed home for sixth in the Caulfield Cup three weeks ago.
Twice a winner over 3000m, including the Group 2 Prix de Kergorlay in France in August, Morrison wasn’t overly thrilled with drawing barrier 16 but said that 3200m was a “long way” with time to overcome the barrier.
“I’ve heard 15 (Wall Of Fire) is good so 16 can’t be too bad,” Morrison said.
“We’ve been pretty happy with him the last few days; he did a nice piece of work with Hugh on him, and given a bit of luck he will run well.”
Almandin is the $8 favourite to collect back-to-back Melbourne Cups after a largely uneventful barrier draw.
“We’ve seen strong support for Almandin and we suspect that will continue,” UBET spokesperson Gerard Daffy said.
There was also some specking for Amelia’s Star at $26, the longest price of trainer Darren Weir’s entrants, and she firmed into $19.