Bookies say it’s a Cup of just two

IT SEEMS extraordinary in a 24-horse Melbourne Cup but punters have already declared the big race a two-horse war, with overseas invader Spanish Mission the only threat to raging favourite Incentivise.

With several injured contenders falling by the wayside and out of Cup contention in recent times, Incentivise is a huge losing result for bookmakers and is the $2.30 favourite with TAB fixed odds.

However Spanish Mission, trained in England by Andrew Balding, has firmed from $8 to $6 since last week and was still at that quote after fellow international Away He Goes suffered a tendon injury and was out of Melbourne Cup contention on Wednesday morning.

“We took an $8000 bet on Spanish Mission in the last week at $7, while a consistent flow of smaller bets has seen his price trim up,” a TAB spokesman said.

One TAB customer is eyeing off a potential collect of more than $41,000 on Spanish Mission after placing a $3500 multi-bet which kicked off with two greyhounds which both won earlier this week.

The punter needs Spanish Mission, who went close to knocking off European champion Stradivarius in the Lonsdale Cup (3270m) at York in August, to win the Cup to collect his multi.

In the Cup, it isn’t quite a case of write your own ticket on anything away from the two fancies but there are no other runners under double figures.

● THE Melbourne Cup Call Of The Card has been cancelled for the second year running.

The big-betting function is traditionally held at the Crown Casino the day before the Cup.