The downgrading of the Flemington track to a heavy 8 has opened up the betting for the 2018 Group 1 $7.3m Lexus Melbourne Cup (3200m) today.

Melbourne Cup runner A Prince Of Arran, above in blue and red colours, has no wet track form. Photo Steve Hart.

The Aidan O’Brien trained Yucatan and Ian Williams’ Magic Circle are now sharing Melbourne Cup favouritism at $7 with Ladbrokes.com.au after Flemington received more than 40mm of rain since 7.30am this morning.

Both of the European stayers have some wet track form with Yucatan having a win on a soft rated track and a placing on the heavy while Magic Circle has won six of his twelve starts on a rain affected track.

One horse that definitely doesn’t like the wet conditions is A Prince Of Arran who gained a start in the Melbourne Cup with his win in the Group 3 $300,000 Lexus Stakes (2500m) at Flemington last Saturday.

Disappointed trainer Charlie Fellowes let his feelings be known on twitter.

“Devastatingly this rain is absolutely no good for Prince Of Arran,” Fellowes said on twitter.

The two $101 outsiders of the twenty-four horse Melbourne Cup field, Auvray and Zacada, have both won in the heavy and could be worth a sneaky each way bet.

The Richard Freedman trained Auvray is a winner on both a soft and a heavy track and will jump from the inside gate with Tommy Berry in the saddle while the Kiwi stayer Zacada has ordinary lead up form and the outside barrier to contend with but will handle the sloppy track.

The rain has started to move on and it looks as though the Melbourne Cup will be run under clear skies while Damien Oliver said that the track was on the improve after he rode the unplaced Princess Of Queens in the third race on the program, the $120,000 Grinders Coffee Roasters Trophy (1400m).