A field of 22 horses will run in the 2022 Melbourne Cup and two late scratchings mean some changes to the barriers.
Top local hope Lunar Flare was ruled out of the race on Tuesday morning, after Point Nepean was scratched on Monday.
The withdrawals mean a host of horses will move inwards from the numbers drawn in Saturday’s barrier draw with Gold Trip, Knights Order, Without a Fight, Camorra, Young Werther, Hoo Ya Mal, Serpentine, Daqiansweet Junior, Arapaho, Smokin’ Romans and Tralee Horses given a slight boost. See below for the full list of new barriers.
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It was a great result in Saturday’s barrier draw for race favourite Deauville Legend, who will start from gate 9.
“I’m pleased. I didn’t want a very low draw and I didn’t want a really wide draw so 9 is absolutely spot on for us,” trainer James Ferguson said.
“With the pace being on the outside, they’re going to go some clip to get there so ideally we can get into a nice position early doors and we don’t have to work too hard to get there either.
Deauville Legend brings stellar form to Australia from the UK and will be ridden by Kerrin McEvoy. The horse is the clear favourite after fellow raider Loft was scratched from the race.
The changes mean Arapaho will now start from the least successful gate historically — No.18.
Grand Promenade, one of five runners for the Ciaron Maher and Dave Eustace stable, will start from the inside gate while Knights Order has the widest gate, now 22.
MOST SUCCESSFUL CUP BARRIERS
Barrier 5 – 8 wins, last in 2013
Barrier 11 – 7 wins, last in 2010
Barrier 10 – 6 wins, last 2014
Barrier 14 – 6 wins, last in 2005
Barrier 8 – 5 wins, last in 2008
LEAST SUCCESSFUL CUP BARRIERS
Barrier 18 – 1 wins in 2021
Barrier 7 – 2 wins, in 1924 and 2015
Barrier 15 – 1 win, in 1973
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CONFIRMED MELBOURNE CUP FIELD (barriers in parenthesis)
1. GOLD TRIP (FR), Jockey: Mark Zahra – 57.5kg (13)
2. DUAIS Hugh Bowman – 55.5kg (10)
3. KNIGHTS ORDER (IRE) Tim Clark – 55.5kg (22)
4. MONTEFILIA Jason Collett – 55.5kg (11)
5. NUMERIAN (IRE) Tommy Berry – 55.5kg (7)
6. WITHOUT A FIGHT (IRE) William Buick – 55.5kg (17)
7. CAMORRA (IRE) Ben Melham – 55kg (16)
8. DEAUVILLE LEGEND (IRE) Kerrin McEvoy – 55kg (9)
9. STOCKMAN (NZ) Sam Clipperton – 54kg (2)
10. VOW AND DECLARE Blake Shinn – 54kg (4)
11. YOUNG WERTHER (NZ) Damian Lane – 54kg (19)
12. HOO YA MA (GB) Craig Williams – 53.5kg (14)
13. SERPENTINE (IRE) John Allen – 53.5kg (23)
14. DAQUIANSWEET JUNIOR (NZ) Daniel Moor – 53kg (12)
15. GRAND PROMENADE (GB) Harry Coffey – 53kg (1)
16. ARAPAHO (FR) Rachel King – 52.5kg (18)
17. EMISSARY (GB) Patrick Moloney – 51.5kg (3)
18. LUNAR FLARE SCRATCHED
19. SMOKIN’ ROMANS (NZ) Jamie Kah – 51.5kg (15)
20. TRALEE ROSE (NZ) Dean Yendall – 51.5kg (20)
21. POINT NEPEAN (IRE) SCRATCHED
22. HIGH EMOCEAN (NZ) Teo Nugent – 50kg (8)
23. INTERPRETATION (IRE) Craig Newitt – 50kg (6)
24. REALM OF FLOWERS Damien Thornton – 50kg (5)
