Aussie icon blows up over Melbourne Cup call

We'll have a 23-horse field in today's race after Racing Victoria stewards announced King of Leogrance as a late scratching.

Owner Nick Williams said the gelding presented with a pulse in his foot.

"It's one of those things that happens," Williams told racing.com.

"He must have a bit of a bruise there somewhere or an abscess brewing. It would be one of the two.

"If it had of arrived yesterday we probably could have treated it and had some chance. If it arrived tomorrow it wouldn't have been a problem.

"Unfortunately it arrived today. There's nothing we can do about it."

Williams said the scratching was a shame for trainer Danny O'Brien and his team.

"It's terribly disappointing when you have to pull a horse out on race morning, in particular in a race as big as the Melbourne Cup," he said.

"I feel terribly disappointed for Danny (O'Brien and his team), who have looked after this horse since he has been down there. They put their heart and soul into it.

"They would have gone to bed last night thinking they were taking a horse to the Melbourne Cup and to get there this morning and find him with a pulse in his foot would be terribly disappointing for them more than anyone."

Veterinary Information: King of Leogrance has been scratched from the Melbourne Cup (Flemington Race 7) at 7.38am by the Stewards acting on veterinary advice. The horse was inspected by RV veterinarians upon request of the stable and was found to be lame in its off fore leg.

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The five-year-old was considered an outside chance with the bookies at $51 for the win and by punters.com.au expert James Lamb in his runner-by-runner guide.

It's a Melbourne Cup like no other and Gai Waterhouse isn't happy.

The legendary horse trainer is furious punters haven't been allowed to attend Flemington because of COVID-19 restrictions, taking aim at Victorian Premier Dan Andrews.

“It’s quite ridiculous really, the way they’ve gone on in Victoria," Waterhouse told 2GB's Ben Fordham.

“The Premier there should wake up and let people go on with their business. The state will go broke with the way he's going.

"COVID's here to last, we may as well start to live with it, otherwise Australia will go belly-up.

“By all means social distance … but you can’t have the country cut off at the knees!”

After a tight lead-up where a handful of horses couldn’t be split, punters have spoken and now have a clear favourite in the Melbourne Cup.

Despite a rough barrier draw, connections of lightly-raced international Tiger Moth have convinced punters he’s the real deal.

Tiger Moth blew out from $6.50 to $9 when the barrier draw was revealed, but the Irish raider has since bounced back into punters’ good books and is the shortest-priced favourite in the race at $6.50.

Anthony Van Dyck was the favourite for most of Sunday night and Monday morning but has pushed out to $9.50 and Surprise Baby is now second favourite at $9.

Six-time Melbourne Cup winning owner Lloyd Williams believes Tiger Moth is “the perfect horse”.

Racing expert and presenter Francesca Cumani agreed, saying he is “impossible to ignore”.

“He will have plenty of supporters in the Cup because he has the ideal profile of being a lightly raced northern hemisphere three-year-old with a good VC and light weight (52.5kg),” she said.

He’s not among the top contenders but the other big mover in the market is Twilight Payment, who has shortened from $41 to $21 and is currently Ladbrokes worst result.

But our expert is tipping a local win, which you can read about in our comprehensive runner-by-runner preview which includes a predicted first four and the best betting strategy for spending $100 on the race.

That crowd isn't scaring anyone. Picture: Getty

Today's edition of the race that stops a nation is going to be unlike anything we've ever seen as the $8 million dash plays out in front of empty grandstands.

Victoria has been hit hardest of any state in Australia by the COVID pandemic and in one final kick in the guts the absence of a crowd at Flemington is set to hand a huge advantage to the international raiders looking to continue their dominance of the event after Vow and Declare's win for Australia last year.

They're already considered two of the best chances to win the race and Anthony Van Dyck and Tiger Moth can go about their business in relative peace and quiet.

Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Corey Brown, who has backed Anthony Van Dyck to win the race, said the empty racecourse was a huge advantage for the international raiders.

"This goes for all the European horses – they’re getting a big benefit from the fact there’s no crowd," Brown wrote for foxsports.com.au. "Quite often they can get very stirred up by the big atmosphere on Cup Day, and can lose their race before it’s run. That won’t be the case for the Covid Cup."

Six-time Melbourne Cup winning owner Lloyd Williams agreed, saying it would be of extra benefit to inexperienced horses like betting favourite Tiger Moth.

“They’ve played into his hands this year. There’s no crowds there, so for an inexperienced horse he’s not going to face 100,000 people in the mounting yard," Williams told RadioTAB.

“If (jockey Kerrin) McEvoy gives him a good ride, he’ll be hard to beat. I’d love to own him.

“Provided nothing goes wrong with this horse over the next 12 months, you’ll hear a lot of him.”