Arguably the best horse in Australia, the Peter Moody-trained and Brett Prebble-ridden Incentivise will aim to become the first horse since 2001 to complete the Caulfield-Melbourne Cup double as he readies for Tuesday’s (2 November) demanding two-mile handicap at Flemington Racecourse worth a colossal A$8 million (approx. HK$46.73 million).

The G1 Melbourne Cup (3200m) – Australia’s greatest race – headlines a fascinating seven race simulcast fixture from ‘Down Under’, where Incentivise dominates discussion as he bids for a tenth consecutive win and a chance at becoming the 12th horse to complete the historic double.

The five-year-old gelding defied the outside barrier draw (18) to win the G1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) by three and a half lengths, recording his third successive G1 win after claiming the Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m) first-up and Turnbull Stakes (2000m) after that.

The five-year-old son of Shamus Award now has to contend with a rise in weight on his Caulfield win but that may not necessarily stop the horse who is described as ‘maybe the best horse, certainly the best stayer’ in Australia by former Hong Kong star Brett Prebble, who’s already notched five G1 wins in Melbourne this season.

“He’s a serious galloper. He’s the best horse, well certainly the best stayer in Australia right now and he does things which other horses simply can’t do.

“He can sustain a high cruising speed from the 1000 or 800 metres to the finish of a race. When other horses die on their run, he just keeps rolling – he breaks their hearts,” Prebble said.

International horses have dominated the Melbourne Cup in recent years and will again pose a threat even though their numbers are limited to just three in the wake of COVID-19 travel complications and the stringent veterinary protocols recently introduced by Racing Victoria.

Last year’s winner Twilight Payment, prepared by Joseph O’Brien, returns and his form has not waned in 2021 as he bids to become the sixth horse to win successive Cups, while Andrew Balding brings Spanish Mission, who beat all but Stradivarius in York’s G2 Lonsdale Cup Stakes (3251m) at his most recent outing in August.

Sir Lucan has joined the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott stable after being originally trained by Aidan O’Brien. As a Northern Hemisphere four-year-old, he profiles similarly to recent winners Rekindling (2017) – who was also trained by Joseph O’Brien – and Cross Counter (2018) and to last year’s runner-up Tiger Moth.

Since Vintage Crop’s historic win in 1993, trained by Ireland’s Dermot Weld, Northern Hemisphere trained horses not only boast a further eight wins in the race but have also had an additional seventeen runners-up, several of whom were either unluckily or narrowly beaten.

The visitors have won six of the past eleven Melbourne Cups. They filled the first three placings in 2017, 2018 and 2020, while in 2019 they finished second, third and fourth – each within a half length of the winner – Vow And Declare.

While five of the nine international winners had had a lead-up run in Australia en route to the Cup, Twilight Payment last year joined Cross Counter, Rekindling and Vintage Crop as a winner at his Australian debut.

Chris Waller and the Ciaron Maher & David Eustace combination, respectively Sydney and Melbourne’s premiership leading trainers, each has four runners.

Waller, fresh from a treble at Flemington on Derby day, is represented by last Saturday’s G3 Hotham Stakes (2500m) winner Great House; Verry Elleegant who was an unlucky seventh last year and two-mile winners Selino and Ocean Billy.

Maher and Eustace, who won last Saturday’s G1 Victoria Derby (2500m) with Hitotsu, have last year’s fifth Persan; the G3 Bart Cummings (2520m) winner Grand Promenade; the promising Floating Artist and prolific Derby winner Explosive Jack.

Kerrin McEvoy (Grand Promenade), Glen Boss (Sir Lucan) and Damien Oliver (Delphi) each has the chance to ride a record-equalling fourth Melbourne Cup winner.