Melbourne Cup Flemington — Copybet

The Melbourne Cup is set to be run on 'soft' going and that could suit RIVER OF STARS, one of a number of ex-European-based campaigners now representing Aussie yards.

The Chris Waller-trained daughter of Sea The Stars was bought for 1,650,000 gns from Ralph Beckett's yard, where she was a three-time winner at Listed grade in Britain.

Her best effort perhaps came in defeat when second to Ballydoyle winner Grateful, who enjoyed track position advantage late on, in the Group 1 Prix de Royallieu at Longchamp over 1m6f on soft ground last summer.

She was second in the Caulfield Cup (1m4f, good) last time and is now 5lb better off with the winner Half Yours – who jostles for favouritism here.

Ciaron Maher, who saddled Gold Trip to win in 2022, has a lively contender in ROYAL SUPREMACY, once trained by Andrew Balding in Britain.

The Make Believe colt was good enough to be third behind Calandagan in the King Edward VII Stakes over a mile-and-a-half at Royal Ascot in the summer of 2024, with the French runner becoming a middle distance star this season for Francis Henri Graffard landing three Group 1s.

Royal Supremacy arrives at Flemington in cracking form. He won the Group 1 Metropolitan Handicap at Randwick early last month and then finished a close fifth in the Caulfield Cup despite hitting some traffic woes under Robbie Dolan.

That form entitles him to major respect amongst a host of leading contenders for this race and he could take his form up a notch now tackling this 2m trip for the first time.

PARCHMENT PARTY will make history as the first US-trained runner in the Melbourne Cup and despite chunky odds, he might have a say.

He landed a 'win and you're in' golden ticket to Melbourne when scoring in June's Belmont Gold Cup and connections have decided to roll the dice now.

He's more accustomed to racing on dirt and his US Hall of Fame trainer admits he'd 'feel good if the race was on dirt', though he added the 'true stayer has moved well on grass'.

John Velazquez is in Melbourne for the ride and they are drawn low which promises to be a plus. The soft ground is also a major tick in the box for Parchment Party, who can outrun his odds.