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MELBOURNE - Last year Coolmore Stud supplied a favourite with tonnes of class and not enough speed.
This year the Irish stud, the most successful racing operation worldwide, has cut back marginally on class and added some pace and a jockey who knows how to win Australia's greatest race.
Scorpion is a Group One winner twice in England and once in France who last start finished second to stable companion Yeats in the Group One Irish St Leger.
Mick Kinane, who won the race in 1993 on Vintage Crop, will ridehim.
On paper that may not appear cup-winning form, Yeats having finished seventh last year.
However, Scorpion is far less dour than his stablemate, a quality which appealed to Yeats' jockey Kieren Fallon when he was in Melbourne last year.
Fallon conceded Yeats did not have the tactical speed necessary to win the Melbourne Cup.
Scorpion, however, is the sort of horse who has.
In last month's St Leger, Fallon and Yeats required every metre of the Curragh straight to collar Scorpion, who left the champion jockey convinced the latter should make the trip to Australia.
"You can see what a tough horse he is. Yeats is a very good stayer and he only just got him," Fallon said. "Scorpion is a mile-and-a-half (2400m) horse - that's what you need to win the Melbourne Cup."
Scorpion and his fellow cup runner Mahler arrived in Melbourne around 11pm on Saturday and didn't get to bed until 2am.
Their handler Andrew Murphy said both had travelled comfortably and would begin the final part of their preparation on Wednesday.
As a three-year-old, Mahler is breaking new ground for the internationals.
While he is regarded as a four-year-old in Australia, he doesn't reach that age until April.
Mahler has raced only six times and at his last start finished second in the English St Leger (2900m) after almost falling 250m from home.
Among his three wins is a Group Three success in the Queen's Vase (3200m) at Royal Ascot in June.
* Meanwhile on the home front, stable favourite Gallic added the Group Two Moonee Valley Cup to his impressive list of cup victories on Saturday and showed he was a chance in the Melbourne Cup.
The lightly-raced eight-year-old, prepared by the Graeme Rogerson stable, ran third in last year's Moonee Valley Cup (2500m) before winning his second Bendigo Cup, having also won that race in 2004.
The Zabeel gelding came back in the autumn to win the Adelaide Cup and the Sydney Cup.
Ridden by Steven Arnold, Gallic ($10) shouldered topweight of 58kg to a 1 1/4-length win over Lazer Sharp ($11) with Jukebox Johnny ($21) three-quarters of a length away third.
The gelding is weighted to carry 55kg at Flemington.
- AAP
