Barriers have been drawn for Tuesday’s $10 million Melbourne Cup.
The final field has had plenty of twists an turns in recent days with several key runners ruled out by Racing Victoria vets. Japanese raider Stinger Glass and the Ciaron Maher trained St George were joined by Joseph O’Brien’s Defiantly on Saturday morning as leading contenders to be withdrawn.
Ciaron Maher has a record seven runners in the race. HIs team is headlined by the pre-barrier draw favourite Point Of Law, who should only firm after drawing ideally in gate nine.
Middle Earth will have a soft run in transit after drawing gate one while Zahrann in nine and Juja Kibo in fourteen look to have fared well. Juja Kibo’s connections let out a raucous cheer when their charge drew fourteen, clearly pleased.
Mr Monaco (16), Shockletz (17) and Royal Supremacy (21) round out Maher’s team. Shockletz may need a new rider after Harry Coffey suffered a suspected broken collarbone after a fall on Derby Day.
Raiders Sons And Lovers and Enfjaar also fared well in gate three and eight respectively.
The news wasn’t as good for Wine Dark Sea who drew wide in gate 23 after also drawing wide in the Caulfield Cup, now James J Braddock who drew the outside alley (24).
| No. | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Weight | Barrier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sons And Lovers | Joseph O’Brien | Dylan Browne McMonagle | 57.5 | 3 |
| 2 | Trustyourinstinct | Joseph O’Brien | James McDonald | 57.0 | 18 |
| 3 | Knight’s Choice | J Symons & S Laxon | Robbie Dolan | 56.5 | 2 |
| 4 | Middle Earth | Ciaron Maher | Mark Zahra | 56.5 | 1 |
| 5 | Vauban | Waterhouse & Bott | Jordan Childs | 56.5 | 22 |
| 6 | Enfjaar | Roger Varian | Ray Dawson | 56.0 | 8 |
| 7 | Royal Supremacy | Ciaron Maher | Ben Allen | 56.0 | 21 |
| 8 | Wine Dark Sea | Harry Charlton | Damian Lane | 56.0 | 23 |
| 9 | Asterix | Chris Waller | Jye McNeil | 55.0 | 6 |
| 10 | Goodie Two Shoes | Joseph O’Brien | Wayne Lordan | 55.0 | 19 |
| 11 | Juja Kibo | Ciaron Maher | Sam Clipperton | 55.0 | 14 |
| 12 | Hopewell Rock | George Boughey | Zac Lloyd | 54.5 | 15 |
| 13 | Onesmoothoperator | T Fitzsimmons | Declan Bates | 54.5 | 13 |
| 14 | Soul Of Spain | Chris Waller | Tommy Berry | 54.5 | 5 |
| 15 | Zahrann | Ciaron Maher | Ben Melham | 54.5 | 11 |
| 16 | So You Are | Bjorn Baker | Rachel King | 54.0 | 7 |
| 17 | Future History | Gregory Hickman | Jamie Melham | 53.5 | 12 |
| 18 | James J Braddock | Joseph O’Brien | Craig William | 53.5 | 24 |
| 19 | Kizlyar | Joseph O’Brien | Beau Mertens | 53.5 | 20 |
| 20 | Point Of Law | Ciaron Maher | Ethan Brown | 53.0 | 9 |
| 21 | Strictly Business | Thomas Carberry | Mick Dee | 53.0 | 4 |
| 22 | Mr Monaco | Ciaron Maher | Jabez Johnstone (a) | 52.5 | 16 |
| 23 | Zakouma | Grahame Begg | William Pike | 52.0 | 10 |
| 24 | Shockletz | Ciaron Maher | Harry Coffey | 51.0 | 17 |
