It will be a very different looking Melbourne Cup at Flemington today with no fans on track for the race that stops a nation, but the race itself is set to go the way of recent years.
Because of Covid-19 restrictions, the tens of thousands of fans that normally turn up will be forced to watch from elsewhere.
Foreign horses have won eight of the last 10 Melbourne Cups and they again lead the favouritism for the $8.2 million race which starts at 5pm New Zealand time.
There are nine european entrants with Irish pair Anthony Van Dyck and Tiger Moth, who are both trained by Aiden O'Brien, among the leading contenders.
Prince of Arran, Master of Reality and Twilight Payment are the other heavily backed foreign raiders.
The New Zealand contingent includes the locally owned and trained The Chosen One and the New Zealand-bred horse Verry Elleegant.
The Chosen One, trained by Kiwis Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman, is back at the Melbourne Cup for the second time, while Verry Elleegent, a Caulfield Cup winner is trained by Sydney-based New Zealander Chris Waller.
The race starts at 5pm and will be broadcast on Checkpoint on RNZ
Horses and jockeys:
1. ANTHONY VAN DYKE Hugh Bowman
2. AVILIUS John Allen
3. VOW AN DECLARE Jamie Mott
4. MASTER OF REALITY Ben Melham
5. SIR DRAGONET Glen Boss
6. TWILIGHT PAYMENT Jye McNeil
7. VERRY ELLEEGANT Mark Zahra
8. MUSTAJEER Michael Rodd
9. STRATUM ALBION Jordan Childs
10. DASHING WILLOUGHBY Michael Walker
11. FINCHE James McDonald
12. PRINCE OF ARRAN Jamie Kah
13. SURPRISE BABY Craig Williams
14. KING OF LEOGRANCE Damian Lane
15. RUSSIAN CAMELOT Damien Oliver
16. STEEL PRINCE William Pike
17. THE CHOSEN ONE Daniel Stackhouse
18. ASHRUN Declan Bates
19. WARNING Luke Currie
20. ETAH JAMES Billy Egan
21. TIGER MOTH Kerrin McEvoy
22. OCEANEX Dean Yendall
23. MIAMI BOUND Daniel Moor
24. PERSAN Michael Dee