CONTROVERSIAL galloper Precedence may have to win Saturday's Lexus Stakes at Flemington to secure a Melbourne Cup start despite rising from 30th to 26th in order after third declarations yesterday, reports The Age.It says: The third-payment stage removed only the injured Sans Fronteries, Zabrasive, Doctor Fremantle and Vigor from the top bracket of qualified horses, leaving a number of the fancied runners in grave danger of missing the Cup. A total of 47 horses remain in the race, firstly for a

CONTROVERSIAL galloper Precedence may have to win Saturday's Lexus Stakes at Flemington to secure a Melbourne Cup start despite rising from 30th to 26th in order after third declarations yesterday, reports The Age.

It says: The third-payment stage removed only the injured Sans Fronteries, Zabrasive, Doctor Fremantle and Vigor from the top bracket of qualified horses, leaving a number of the fancied runners in grave danger of missing the Cup. A total of 47 horses remain in the race, firstly for a spot in the 24-horse field and secondly for a slice of the record $6 million in prizemoney on offer on Tuesd


The Bart Cummings-trained Precedence was penalised 1.5 kilograms to 53.5 for his Moonee Valley Cup victory last Saturday, but while the penalty was criticised heavily in some quarters, the horse is still two places short of the final field. It is believed that Cummings would prefer not to have to run and win with Precedence on Saturday and if he decides against it, he must rely on horses above him going amiss or racing poorly in their final lead-up runs.

Precedence was rated the equal third favourite for the Melbourne Cup last night at $13 alongside Caulfield Cup winner Descarado.

One plus for the five-year-old is that there are three horses safely in the line-up who are owned by Precedence's majority owner Dato Tan Chin Nam. Champion galloper So You Think will progress to the Cup if he runs well in the Mackinnon Stakes on Saturday but the owner may decided against paying up for either Faint Perfume, who is struggling for form, or Dariana, who is hopeless on wet tracks, if it meant Precedence could sneak into the final 24.

Saturday's Lexus Stakes (2500 metres) and the 2000-metre group 1 Mackinnon Stakes at weight-for-age are key races in determining the Melbourne Cup field.

Not only do the winners of both races enjoy a ballot-free run into the Cup but connections of the beaten horses in both must decide whether to continue the dream and by 5pm on Saturday pay a further $49,500 to contest the Cup.