Despite all the rain at the weekend, the Flemington track could be in pretty good nick for Melbourne Cup Day. Prospects are bright for a very much-improved surface- unless more rains falls. Track boss Mick Goodie says: 'I don't want to get too far ahead of myself but I think a lot of people will be surprised with just how well this track will come up on Cup day - it has great recuperative powers...I'll put the inside rail out three metres and so we'll pretty much have fresh ground for Cup day...

Despite all the rain at the weekend, the Flemington track could be in pretty good nick for Melbourne Cup Day. Prospects are bright for a very much-improved surface- unless more rains falls. Track boss Mick Goodie says: 'I don't want to get too far ahead of myself but I think a lot of people will be surprised with just how well this track will come up on Cup day - it has great recuperative powers...I'll put the inside rail out three metres and so we'll pretty much have fresh ground for Cup day...There has been a bit of scarring on the home turn but we'll clean that up and we might even get to a dead rating for Tuesday and given what we had on Saturday, that will be a great result.'

Will the great man attend the 150th Cup? Well, Bart Cummings, almost 83 and out of hospital on Sunday, will make every effort to be there to see his superstar So You Think lining up for his sixth consecutive win of the spring. Bart also has Precedence in the race. If he can get one of the pair home it will be Cup #13 for him.

The sire High Chaparral gets the chance to become the first stallion in history to sire the winners of the Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup in the one season (with more than one horse, Rising Fast aside) if one of his four runners can salute at Flemington on Tuesday. Breednet.com.au says: 'His chances rest with: So You Think (undefeated this spring and looks a good thing to win judging by his dashing victory in the Group I VRC LKS Mackinnon Stakes last Saturday, the further they went, the further he would have won by; pedigree wise there is reason to think he has the right staying genes as his fourth dam Philipolo is by Marco Polo (Fr), a sire that has left us two Melbourne Cup winners in Macdougal and Polo Prince); Shoot Out (won the AJC Derby in the autumn and has been ultra consistent this spring and dam is a half-sister to Native Jazz, who finished second in an Adelaide Cup over two miles); Descarado (won the Caulfield Cup and chased So You Think home in the Mackinnon for second so is flying coming into this race); Monaco Consul (won the Victoria Derby last spring and ran well for third in the Caulfield Cup and first three dams are by Star Way (GB), In the Purple (Fr) and Le Filou (Fr), a pedigree that screams two miler).

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