- Read below for the latest on Kris Lees' chances and Australian Bloodstock's Cup hopes.
KRIS Lees, like many across the nation, will once again turn his attention to the Melbourne Cup.
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But Flemington won't be the only place the Newcastle trainer will have eyes on the first Tuesday in November.
Lees gets a rare crack at a feature double worth $13million combined - Changingoftheguard in the Cup itself and Big Dance duo Tavi Time and Lord Of Biscay running together at Randwick.
It comes amid 18 horses racing across six tracks.
The Novocastrian team will also be represented nearby at Manning Valley Race Club and three Queensland venues - Eagle Farm, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast - on November 4.
It's quite the logistical operation for 2025.
Stable representative Danny Greer was proud of the effort, especially having interstate chances in the main events just 40 minutes apart.
"These sorts of plans are set 12 months out so getting them to this point is a fair effort in itself, that's an accomplishment," Greer told the Newcastle Herald.
"In the Big Dance we've got two horses there who are live chances and in the Melbourne Cup itself, he's long odds, but it wouldn't shock us if he ran a decent race in that company."
And what about claiming twin titles at once?
"It would be handy and that's the goal. We take either one of them and we'd be happy for sure," Greer said.
"Each probably heads down a different path," Greer said.
"The last one he had was Kalapour, who scraped in the Saturday before in the Archer, whereas this horse we've known he's been in the race for quite some time.
"So you can be a bit picky and choosy what races you lead up to, whereas with other horses you're trying to get in there you're desperately running them which doesn't set up perfectly."
This time around seven-year-old Irish gelding Changingoftheguard, part-owned by multiple-Cup winner Lloyd Williams, flies the flag off the back of four runs this preparation.
There was a Tatts Cup win, a first-up second, group 1 Metro mission and most recently the Geelong Cup.
Saturday saw him drawn in the widest barrier of 24 and Lees has opted for blinkers ahead of the 3200-metre journey.
"Normally we'd be really worried about it," Greer said.
"I suppose we didn't want to draw that wide, but he is a horse who will roll forward and he's got the blinkers on.
"Three starts back when James McDonald won on him, he rolled forward and established a lead.
"One thing it does do, gives us plenty of time to come across and find our spot.
"It may work in our favour, because if we were drawn towards the inside and got crossed early that would definitely go against us.
"You've got a long run to the first turn and we'll use every bit of it."
Wet weather has been forecast for Flemington on Tuesday with Changingoftheguard both winning and placing on soft tracks previously.
"I don't think that's a disadvantage for us, whereas maybe it's a disadvantage for some others. So that'll certainly promote our chances," Greer said.
Tim Clark (53 kilograms) will be the jockey for Changingoftheguard, which was paying $61 via Sportsbet fixed odds on Monday.
The Melbourne Cup is now worth $10m in prizemoney.
Jay Ford and Hunter hoop Dylan Gibbons have the rides on board Tavi Time and Lord Of Biscay, respectively, in the $3m listed Big Dance (1600m) at Randwick on Tuesday.
Lees won the inaugural Big Dance with Rustic Steel in 2022.
Later in the Melbourne Cup carnival at Flemington, Lees lines up both Cloudland and Cantiamo on Thursday.
Cleveland has been dual nominated for the Australian Heritage Cup (2800m) on Tuesday and the group 3 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2600m) on Saturday.
'Al Riffa's race to lose': Bloodstock's chances
Luke Murrell admits, "I haven't been this confident since I was with Protectionist".
On the eve of this year's Melbourne Cup, the Australian Bloodstock co-director casts his mind back to the first of two titles in 2014.
He can see the parallels with their current overseas import, declaring it's "Al Riffa's race to lose".
"Hand on my heart and without being cocky, I think it's race over if Al Riffa brings his form from overseas. I don't think they get near them," Murrell told the Newcastle Herald.
"I probably haven't been this confident since I was with Protectionist. I'm not even this confident when we have a maiden at Taree. It's a little bit unique."
The Hunter-based racing syndicators, who also won with Gold Trip in 2022, reveal this latest journey has been at least 12 months in the making.
"We tried to buy the horse last year but got the big go away," Murrell said.
"We just kept coming back to the horse ... he's the best horse, so let's try and get him.
"There was a tinge of we'll get a deal if we're silly enough, and that's how it's gone down.
"We had to sell a lung and a kidney and the lung and kidney of the next-born child to afford it.
"So it will be relief when the gates open, and then heart-in-your-mouth stuff.
"If he can just do what he's done the rest of his career, that should be good enough, without bad luck or a bad ride."
Champion jockey Mark Zahra, fresh from four wins in a row last weekend, will be on board the six-year-old topweight (59 kilograms) for the two-mile classic (3200 metres).
Murrell described Al Riffa's barrier draw of 19 as "perfect" while wet conditions mattered little because "he runs good on anything".
