Melbourne Cup 2024: Vauban, Absurde, Buckaroo among Flemington runners

Irish trainer Willie Mullins will seek an elusive first Melbourne Cup victory in Australia’s most famous race on Tuesday.

Mullins, the only man to train 100 winners at jump racing’s Cheltenham Festival, has targeted the Flat contest (04:00 GMT) as a key event he wants to win.

He hopes last year’s favourite Vauban, who finished 14th, can fare better this time, with Mullins also running Absurde, who took seventh place 12 months ago.

Onesmoothoperator represents Brian Ellison, with Sea King running for fellow British trainer Harry Eustace at Flemington Racecourse.

Caulfield Cup runner-up Buckaroo is among the leading Australia-based hopes in the ‘race that stops a nation’. Trainer Chris Waller, who was born in New Zealand, also saddles Kovalica, Land Legend, Valiant King and Manzoice.

Vauban won the Lonsdale Cup at York before finishing runner-up to Kyprios in the Irish St Leger last time, while Absurde landed the Chester Stakes having won the County Hurdle at Cheltenham in March.

Mullins would dearly love to scoop a Melbourne Cup.

“It’s probably the biggest flat race in the world that I can win with the type of horses we buy,” said Mullins, 68, who was second with Max Dynamite in 2015.

“That’s why it’s a race that we’d really love to win.”