When weights were announced in mid-September for Monday’s Group 1 Melbourne Cup at Flemington Racecourse in Australia, the gelding Valiant King ranked 76th among the candidates. Since then, Valiant King has forced his way into the field, and will start in the famous two-mile race for the second consecutive year. Trained by Chris Waller, Valiant King earned a guaranteed berth to this year’s $6.53 million Melbourne Cup with a win at 60-1 in the Group 3 Bart Cumming Stakes at about 1 9/16 miles at Flemington on Oct. 4. Valiant King was later third in the Group 1 Caulfield Cup at 1 1/2 miles at Caulfield Racecourse on Oct. 18, closing from last of 18 to finish 1 1/2 lengths behind Half Yours. Valiant King was 13th in the 2024 Melbourne Cup. Because weights were largely determined by mid-September, Valiant King will carry a mere 112.4 pounds, well below topweight Al Riffa at 130. A 5-year-old British-bred gelding, Valiant King will be ridden by Jye McNeil, who won the 2020 Melbourne Cup. As of Sunday, Half Yours and Valiant King were 7-1 joint favorites. :: Get free past performances, analysis, and picks for international racing, including Australia Valiant King was the 7-1 second choice behind 5-1 Half Yours as of Saturday. Al Riffa and Presage Nocture were 8-1. Parchment Party, trained by Bill Mott, was 60-1. Parchment Party is winless in two starts on turf, the most recent of which was a ninth of 11 in the Grade 2 Mac Diarmida Stakes at 1 3/8 miles on turf at Gulfstream Park on March 1. Parchment Party, who races for Pin Oak Stud, earned a berth to the Melbourne Cup with a win by 8 3/4 lengths in the Grade 3 Belmont Gold Cup at 1 3/4 miles at Saratoga on June 6. The race was scheduled for turf, but was moved to the main track and run on a sloppy and sealed surface. Parchment Party won the Birdstone Stakes at 1 3/4 miles on dirt by a length at Saratoga on Aug. 6 in his final start in the United States before he was sent to Australia. John Velazquez rode Parchment Party to the wins in Saratoga and has the mount in the Melbourne Cup. Velazquez said earlier this week at Del Mar that the Flemington turf course is an unknown for Parchment Party, who will carry 114.6 pounds. “It’s a different surface and that’s a question we have,” he said. Half Yours, trained in Australia by the father-son team of Tony and Calvin McEvoy, won for the fifth time in his last eight starts in the Caulfield Cup. A winner of 7 of 14 starts, Half Yours will carry 116.8 pounds in the Melbourne Cup, his first start at two miles. Al Riffa joined the list of top challengers for the Melbourne Cup after a four-length win in the Group 1 Irish St. Leger at 1 3/4 miles at The Curragh in Ireland on Sept. 14. Amiloc, second in the Irish St. Leger, finished fourth in Saturday’s BC Turf at Del Mar. Al Riffa is trained by Joseph O’Brien, who won the Melbourne Cup in 2017 with Rekindling and the 2020 running with Twilight Payment. They were beaten in their last starts in Europe before being sent to Australia. Al Riffa “is different than the ones we’ve run,” O’Brien said at Del Mar last week. “He’s more exposed.” With his recent success, Al Riffa has the role of topweight in a test of stamina. Mark Zahra will ride Al Riffa for the first time. Post time for the Melbourne Cup is 11 p.m. Eastern or 8 p.m. Pacific. Big Dance Preview Gringotts, a 10-time winner with earnings of more than $2.5 million, is favored to become the first two-time winner of the $1.96 million Big Dance Stakes at a mile at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney on Monday. Gringotts won the 2024 Big Dance Stakes, and earlier this year won the Group 1 George Ryder Stakes at 7 1/2 furlongs at Rosehill Gardens Racecourse in Sydney. The Big Dance Stakes is restricted to horses that win or place in qualifying races in the state of New South Wales beginning last November. Gringotts qualified with a win in the $650,600 Gong Stakes at Kembla Grange Racecourse last November. In his most recent start, Gringotts was second by slightly more than a half-length in the $985,300 Alan Brown Stakes at seven furlongs at Rosehill Gardens on Oct. 11. A handicap, the Big Dance Stakes drew a field of 20. Gringotts carries topweight of 136.6 pounds, slightly more than Headley Grange, who won the Alan Brown and has won his last three starts. Headley Grange, 5-1 as of Sunday, will carry 134.4 pounds. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.