Melbourne Cup Flemington, Victoria Date: 3 November, 0400 GMT Commentary: BBC Radio 5 live

By Cornelius Lysaght BBC Radio 5 Live racing correspondent

Brad Rawiller and Bart Cummings attempt to follow up their 2008 success

It's called the 'race that stops a nation'; he is the trainer that even more frequently makes the same population sit up and take notice.

Bart Cummings, born a few days after Trivalve won the 1927 running of the iconic Melbourne Cup, has not earned the nickname, the 'Cups King', for nothing.

Since first capturing the prize with Light Fingers in 1965, the Sydney-based octogenarian has become a training legend, galloping off with the world famous prize on a record 12 occasions... and counting.

As this year's £3m prize looms, as ever on the first Tuesday in November, Cummings is once again due to saddle a strong assault.

Last month's Caulfield Cup first and second, Viewed and Roman Emperor, plus 8th-placed Allez Wonder, make up a formidable three-handed challenge.

Viewed won the Melbourne Cup 12 months ago and, despite carrying top weight, is one of the leading fancies this year.

Under Brad Rawiller, he disputes favouritism with the Jake Stephens-trained Alcopop after running a most encouraging big race rehearsal in third place in Saturday's Mackinnon Cup.

606: DEBATE Viewed has gone up 11 pounds on last year's win, but is in excellent form cyclonic111

Asked what he thought of the performance - not far behind winner Scenic Shot - Cummings' experienced eyes sparkled bright.

The 81-year-old enthused: "Did you like it, did you? I thought it was quite a good run, and he'll benefit from that run."

Success for any of the Cummings trio would raise the roof once again at Flemington where the Cup has become perhaps Australia's greatest social as well as sporting event.

Although there have been European winners of the race, none has been from Britain even though Bauer came within a whisker of a success for the Poms behind Viewed.

The British raiding party is probably not the strongest this time around, with Frankie Dettori's intended mount Kirklees having been pulled out by the Godolphin stable.

However Sheikh Mohammed's team will still have Crime Scene (ridden by Kerrin McEvoy) while Basaltico - trained like Bauer by Luca Cumani at Newmarket - and Munsef have also travelled from the UK.

The BBC's Melbourne commentator Jim McGrath will call the race live on Radio 5 live at 0400 on Tuesday.

Follow regular Twitter updates from BBC racing correspondent Cornelius Lysaght at http://twitter.com/CorneliusRacing

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