Michael Owen draws barrier 6 for his horse Brown Panther at the Melbourne Cup draw at Flemington. Picture: Mark Evans Source: Mark Evans / The Sunday Telegraph
OWNER Lloyd Williams fared best from the barrier draw for Tuesday's $6.2 million Group 1 Melbourne Cup, with five of his six runners drawing inside barrier 10.
Williams, who won the race with Green Moon last year, has the most runners in the race and four of them drew alongside each other.
Masked Marvel will start from gate two, while stablemates Sea Moon (7), Caulfield Cup winner Fawkner (8), The Metropolitan winner Seville (9) and Green Moon (10) will make it a difficult task for racecaller Greg Miles to distinguish between the quartet at the start of Tuesday's race.
Only Mourayan, who drew out in barrier 19, didn't get a plum starting gate.
Former Liverpool and Manchester United star Michael Owen stepped up to the spot and scored barrier six for his galloper Brown Panther, who Owen hopes can add a Melbourne Cup to an already bulging mantelpiece that includes an FA Cup, UEFA Cup and English Premier League title.
Lexus Stakes winner Ruscello gained a start with today's victory, but drew poorly and will come from gate 24.
Ruscello's connections spent most of the day contemplating running their Group 3-winning galloper before finally accepting this afternoon.
Since Baystone won the Lexus (then Hotham Handicap) and Melbourne Cup double in 1958, only three horses have won both races - Think Big (1974), Brew (2000) and Shocking (2009).
Walker admitted after the race he was unsure about whether to test Ruscello in the $6.2 million Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington on Tuesday.
It is a different story for today's other Mebourne Cup qualifying race, the Group 1 Mackinnon Stakes (2000m), with winner Side Glance not among the latest nominations for the race.
The Bart Cummings-trained Precedence was left agonisingly short of gaining a place in the field.
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