Craig Williams riding Vow and Declare leads the field around the first bend in the Lexus Melbourne Cup during 2019 Melbourne Cup Day at Flemington Racecourse

This year’s 160th Melbourne Cup race, the biggest handicap race in the world takes place as always on the first Tuesday in November, November 3, and will mark a moment when the Australians and other overseas raiders are arriving to compete in this globally renowned event.

Run by the Victoria Racing Club at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, this 3,200-metre race for three-year-olds and over is the richest “two-mile” handicap and turf race in the world. Also known as ‘the race that stops the nation”, this highly anticipated Melbourne Cup horse racing event presents a great opportunity to back a winner. Melbourne racing today is world class, and the Melbourne Cup is an elite race on the global horse racing calendar.

A total of 174 nominations were taken for the 2020 Melbourne Cup, after entries closed in August, and the Melbourne Cup field will be announced 31st of October. 30 internationals are among those hoping to bag the Melbourne Cup winnings of $8 million at Flemington, with 16 of these hailing from the stables of Aidan O'Brien and his Melbourne Cup-winning son Joseph.

Market leaders Russian Camelot, Colette, Master of Wine and Verry Elleegant were nominated for the Caulfield Cup and Melbourne Cup while being joined by other leading locals Shared Ambition, Surprise Baby and King of Leogrance to fend off the foreign raiders

Greg Carpenter, Racing Victoria's Executive General Manager of Racing, said he was delighted with the quality of nominations across both races.

“We were unsure as to the number of nominations that would be received this year given the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic so we’re delighted to see an increase in entries for both the Stella Artois Caulfield Cup and Lexus Melbourne Cup.

“There are plenty of facinating stories among the Melbourne Cup runner entries for racing fans and punters to follow from afar as the countdown begins to both races in these unprecedented times.

“Melbourne Cup champion Vow And Declare are among this year’s entries, and there is no question that Danny O’Brien holds an incredibly strong hand as he plans a pathway to both cups.

“The number of internationally-trained entries is higher than expected in the circumstances, due largely to the tremendous interest from Aidan and Joseph O’Brien who have an impressive list of entries in the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups.”

Carpenter said that there are a number of challenges one of which are logistical to overcome because of Covid-19 travel restrictions but he’s positive that the Melbourne Cup will not be affected regardless.

Part 2 here