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SELECT 👉 Hagley Oval commentaryThe $18 gelding who is the "horse to beat" in Melbourne Cup
Connor Scanlon • October 20th, 2025 5:42 pm
Can any horse from the 2025 Caulfield Cup win the Melbourne Cup?
That’s the exact question that was posed to SENTrack & RSN’s Gareth Hall and prominent racehorse owner John O’Neill.
The 2024 Melbourne Cup winner Knight’s Choice finished 14th in last year’s edition of the Caulfield Cup, while the $10 million Group 1’s runner-up Warp Speed came 13th in the 2024 Caulfield Cup.
Hall was confident when answering the question, claiming that there is one horse at juicy odds, coming out of the Caulfield Cup, who is the horse to beat in the race that stops a nation.
“I reckon the horse you need to be backing was $26 this morning, now into $18 (with Sportsbet) is Meydaan,” Hall told SENTrack & RSN’s Giddy Up.
“He’ll get a new jockey (from Andrea Atzeni), well he should.
“He’s the horse to beat at Flemington for the Crisford’s.”
Hall also added Valiant King and Presage Nocturne into the mix as well.
“Presage Nocturne was excellent, he will be a lot better at Flemington,” Hall mentioned.
“Valiant King definitely can win – he needs a fast run two-mile but if he gets it, he’s the horse to beat.
“I agree I think Valiant King will be there and it will definitely eat the two miles, there is no doubt about that,” O’Neill added.
However, the racehorse owner couldn’t agree with Hall’s Meydaan call though, joking that he needs some glasses.
Instead, O’Neill claimed that the Caulfield Cup winner and current Melbourne Cup favourite Half Yours will be the horse to beat in Australia’s great race, along with his horse Birdman.
“I would’ve thought if Half Yours turns up (in the Caulfield Cup), it’s going to be very, very hard to beat (in the Melbourne Cup),” O’Neill stated.
“Also, I thought Birdman ran really well.
“He was meant to sit in the first half a dozen, then missed the start and went back. He’s got about a 300m really sharp sprint and he had to use a lot of that to actually make the ground up.
“So, he finished sixth on the rail, I thought he went pretty good.”
Half Yours is the current Melbourne Cup favourite at $4.60 (with Sportsbet)
The final Melbourne Cup field will be made public on the Saturday, November 1.
Odds correct when published at 3:30pm on October 20.
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