Australian punters have seemingly accepted the inevitable and rallied to the international raiders in the Melbourne Cup with most money for Profound Beauty to give Irishman Dermot Weld his third victory.The mare is now the third favourite after being heavily supported and has the services of Glen Boss who will be aiming for a record-equalling fourth Cup win after claiming the race three times on Makybe Diva.English horse Mad Rush, an eye-catching fourth in the Caulfield Cup, remained favourite a

Australian punters have seemingly accepted the inevitable and rallied to the international raiders in the Melbourne Cup with most money for Profound Beauty to give Irishman Dermot Weld his third victory.

The mare is now the third favourite after being heavily supported and has the services of Glen Boss who will be aiming for a record-equalling fourth Cup win after claiming the race three times on Makybe Diva.

English horse Mad Rush, an eye-catching fourth in the Caulfield Cup, remained favourite ahead of Irish St Leger winner and topweight Septimus.

Damien Oliver will ride Mad Rush whose trainer Luca Cumani also has Bauer in the race he finished second last year with Purple Moon.

Bauer will be ridden by Corey Brown with Cumani opting for local knowledge, unlike the Coolmore team which has brought Johnny Murtagh, Colm O'Donohue and Wayne Lordan to ride Septimus, Honolulu and Alessandro Volta respectively.

"I prefer to use the Australian jockeys because they ride here all the time and know the track," Cumani said.

"Coolmore has their own team but I don't have a stable jockey as such so it is good to secure the best here.

"They know the course well and they know the other jockeys well."

Boss is excited about riding Profound Beauty although she is unknown at 3200 metres.

"She gives me every indication she will run the distance but you never know until you try," Boss said.

"But you can never underestimate someone like Dermot Weld."

Underestimating Bart Cummings is also fraught with danger with Australia's greatest trainer two-handed as he attempts a 12th Cup win which will be his 250th Group One victory if either Moatize or Viewed can triumph.

At 81, Cummings is still open to new ideas and for the first time in a Group One race one of his horses will be ridden by a woman with Clare Lindop snaring the mount on Moatize.

Moatize qualified for the Cup by winning Saturday's Saab Quality, just three hours before Lindop scored a history-making win on outsider Rebel Raider in the prestigious Victoria Derby.

"It is fantastic to be riding in a Melbourne Cup for Bart Cummings," Lindop said.

"My horse has got good form and most importantly the timing's right - he's peaking at the right time."

Cummings's son Anthony will saddle up Red Lord, who will be his first Cup runner and is one of the outsiders.

"Red Lord is healthy and well ahead of the biggest day of his career," Cummings said.

"I'm mildly excited. It doesn't feel that much different today but I expect it will race day.

"It's pretty exciting to be there and have a real chance on your own."

The threat by Coolmore to withdraw Septimus if the track was too firm seemed to pass today and everything was back on track.

But English horse Yellowstone's Cup campaign was finally declared over late today after a week of controversy about his health and an even bigger controversy about his jockey.

John Egan was fined $8,000 for comments he made during a television interview on Saturday in which he called racing industry vets "a couple of tin-pot Hitlers".

After the hearing, Egan said he wanted to put the incident behind him and was looking forward to riding in the Melbourne Cup.

He will not get the chance this year with the field now reduced to 22 following the withdrawal of Zarita because of a virus.