Damien Oliver doubtful of Sea King’s Melbourne Cup chances

Three-time Melbourne Cup winner Damien Oliver has expressed concern over Sea King’s chances in the main event at Flemington on Tuesday.

After his strong win in the Bendigo Cup, online bookmakers are paying $14 for the Harry Eustace-trained galloper to take out Australia’s most famous race.

However, Oliver believes the draw in barrier one could pose some problems for a horse that isn’t the sharpest out of the gates.

“Sea King is the one I’m concerned a little bit about,” the legendary former jockey said on Monday.

“We saw in the Bendigo Cup, he didn’t have a lot of gate speed, was ridden to hold a position and then raced quite keenly.

“Declan (Bates) was able to manoeuvre his way out and make an early move, which really played into the horse’s hands.”

• MELBOURNE CUP BEGINNERS’ GUIDE

Oliver singled out Okita Soushi ($13) and Just Fine ($51) as the likely pacesetters in the two-mile feature.

“Just Fine looks the obvious leader, but you saw when he won in The Bart Cummings, it was a slowly run race that he dominated from the front,” he said.

“Okita Soushi, they’ll take advantage of him racing forward, light weight on his back. Athabascan can capitalise on a good draw.”

Vauban and Buckaroo are vying for Melbourne Cup favouritism at around $7 apiece, with Onesmoothoperator not far behind at $8.50 odds.

Melbourne Cup 2024 field & odds

No.	Silks	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Barrier	Weight	Odds
1		Vauban	Willie Mullins	William Buick	11	55.5kg	+600
2		Buckaroo	Chris Walle	Joao Moreira	21	54.5kg	+600
3		Circle Of Fire	Ciaron Maher	Mark Zahra	24	54.5kg	+2500
4		Warp Speed	Noboru Takagi	Akira Sugawara	3	54.5kg	+3000
5		Kovalica	Chris Waller	Damian Lane	17	53.5kg	+2200
6		Sharp ‘N’ Smart	Graeme & Deborah Rogerson	Michael Dee	15	53.5kg	+4000
7		Just Fine	Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott	Jye McNeil	13	53kg	+5000
8		Land Legend	Chris Waller	Zac Purton	18	53kg	+1100
9		Absurde	Willie Mullins	Kerrin McEvoy	7	52.5kg	+1000
10		Athabascan	John O’Shea & Tom Charlton	Zac Lloyd	2	52kg	+6000
11		Knight’s Choice	John Symons & Sheila Laxon	Robbie Dolan	6	51.5kg	+10000
12		Okita Soushi	Ciaron Maher	Jamie Kah	10	51kg	+1200
13		Onesmoothoperator	Brian Ellison	Craig Williams	12	51kg	+750
14		Zardozi	James Cummings	Andrea Atzeni	4	51kg	+900
15		Sea King	Harry Eustace	Hollie Doyle	1	50.5kg	+1300
16		Valiant King	Chris Waller	Craig Newitt	22	50.5kg	+10000
17		Fancy Man	Annabel Neasham & Rob Archibald	Ron Stewart	19	50kg	+10000
18		Interpretation	Ciaron Maher	Teo Nugent	14	50kg	+1700
19		Manzoice	Chris Waller	Declan Bates	8	50kg	+10000
20		Mostly Cloudy	Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young	Karis Teetan	16	50kg	+8000
21		Positivity	Andrew Forsman	Winona Costin	20	50kg	+10000
22		Saint George	Ciaron Maher	Tyler Schiller	9	50kg	+2500
23		The Map	Dan Clarken & Oopy MacGillivray	Rachel King	23	50kg	+5000
24		Trust In You	Bruce Wallace & Grant Cooksley	Mark Du Plessis	5	50kg	+10000

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