The 163rd running of the Melbourne Cup takes place on Tuesday at Flemington.
For all the eagles, mountains and miles that have popped up over recent years, no race continues to capture Australia more than the Melbourne Cup.
In select inner racing circles some may argue it no longer 'stops a nation' but there is still by far more public interest, more news reporting and more friends and family asking for who you like than any other race in the country.
This year's edition is fascinating with a highly touted, long time pre-post favourite in Vauban. A three-time Grade 1 hurdle winner in the UK, he switched back to the flat two starts ago, romping home by 7.5 lengths at Royal Ascot and going on with it at Naas, scoring a soft 1.5 length win over Valiant King.
We've seen that form stack up fairly well in the Group 1 Caulfield Cup (2400m), with Valiant King a touch unlucky not to finish a bit closer than the 5.4 length margin between he and Without A Fight.
Vauban will have no issues with staying the trip and arguably already has the class to win a Melbourne Cup, seemingly with more progression to come on the flat. He does have two queries however, the first being how well he handles a hot day at Flemington with 100,000 people in the crowd, and his price.
Around $3.50 was being shopped which has rightfully gotten out a bit now. Last year, Incentivise ($2.88) was the shortest priced Melbourne Cup favourite since the immortal Phar Lap won at 8/11, or $1.73 in 1930.
Vauban is rated 119 with Timeform 
with plenty of scope to improve, but Incentivise was rated a world-class 129 off his Caulfield Cup romp, and was still beaten 4 lengths by Verry Elleegant.
Winning the Caulfield Cup this year was Without A Fight who has been a revelation in Australia. Sent out to tackle last year's Melbourne Cup, he was well beaten and the soft, bordering heavy conditions were blamed. He's run a career peak last start and ran the fastest late sectionals of the race off a very strong tempo.
He is a Group 3 winner over 2787m in the UK and with conditions to suit, must be highly respected to become the last horse since Ethereal in 2001 to complete the Cups double.
Gold Trip is out for his own slice of history, aiming to become the first back-to-back winner of the Melbourne Cup since Makybe Diva. Prior to the great mare, Think Big in 1974/75 was the last horse to win the race in consecutive years.
He's followed the same path of the Turnbull Stakes, Caulfield Cup and Cox Plate and is arguably going even better than last year. He rises 1kg from last year and will have to back up on what should be a firm Flemington deck, but he's a class animal and is running Cup winning numbers.
Also through the Caulfield Cup, Soulcombe will be sure to divide again. He missed the start worse than he ever has there, but trust Chris Waller to have done everything in his power to get him to jump with the field, so watch out if he can land midfield. The Japanese horse Breakup must also be respected with some strong form lines over 3000m and beyond- expect he runs a much better race than he did in the Caulfield Cup.
Finally, the Melbourne Cup wouldn't be so without a roughie, inspired by one of the greatest sporting moments when Prince Of Penzance and Michelle Payne won the 2015 Melbourne Cup at 100-1.
If there were to be a blowout this year, perhaps the Maher & Eustace trained Interpretation with 50kg on his back could be it. The stable had High Emocean also coming off a Bendigo Cup win last year to run third to Gold Trip, and Interpretation is rated seven pounds higher than her.
I don't think there's any value with Vauban whatsoever, and Gold Trip is also short enough. Without A Fight has been well backed but I do have him on top, with Soulcombe, Breakup, Interpretation and even Serpentine capable of running good races.
There are so many angles, both locally and internationally in this year's Melbourne Cup, and as always, it will be an amazing spectacle regardless of the result.
