Racing Victoria has now released the Melbourne Cup 2014 second declarations with the current Caulfield Cup winning favourite Admire Rakti one of 12 internationals still in the mix.

Lucia Valentina is the shortest priced of local 2014 Melbourne Cup second acceptors for Tuesday week’s showdown. Photo: Race Horse Photos Australia.

Japanese-trained Heart’s Cry seven-year-old Admire Rakti shot to the top of the Ladbrokes.com.au betting markets for this year’s $6.2 million Group 1 Emirates Melbourne Cup (3200m) after a successful Australian debut on October 18.

Tomoyuki Umeda’s 58kg top weight defeated a top field in the Group 1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) in the ideal lead-up to the ‘race that stops a nation’.

Today he was one of 40 Melbourne Cup second acceptors and the top fancy of those paying $4.80 to secure the coveted spring cups double.

2014 Melbourne Cup 2^nd Declaration Facts

• 40 second acceptors
• 12 international hopes
• 5 withdrawn from inside the top 24 with: Silent Achiever, Kirramosa, Hawkspur, Zanbagh and Black Tycoon out

For his Caulfield Cup win Admire Rakti earned a half-kilo penalty and now sits as the 58.5kg Melbourne Cup top weight.

If successful with that impost he will be carrying the most weight to victory of any Melbourne Cup winner in the past 30 years; Makybe Diva (58kg) the last to carry more than 56kg to victory for her third in 2005.

There were five horses inside the top 24 on the Melbourne Cup order of entry not accepted for today with: Cox Plate third placegetter Silent Achiever to be saved for a race where she’ll carry less than 56kg under handicap conditions, last year’s Crown Oaks winner Kirramosa, Hawkspur, Zanbagh and Black Tycoon.

The next best fancied of the dozen non-Australian or New Zealand trained Melbourne Cup hopes still in contention meanwhile is then German raider Protectionist who is the $7 second elect.

Andreas Wohler’s Monsun stallion won the Group 2 Prix Kergorlay (3000m) in France on August 24, the race an excellent Melbourne Cup form line in recent years.

He then debuted down under on October 11 at Caulfield with a fast finishing fourth behind Big Memory in the Group 2 Herbert Power Stakes (2400m), an effort that shot the five-year-old up the Melbourne Cup markets.

The internationals in fact have a stranglehold over the latest Melbourne Cup betting markets occupying five of the top eight spots.

The other best fancied internationals are then Johnny Murtagh’s Ebor Handicap winner Mutual Regard ($10) to be ridden by Damien Oliver who makes his 25th Melbourne Cup appearance, dual runner-up Red Cadeaux ($19) for the UK’s Ed Dunlop and the Saeed Bin Suroor-trained veteran Willing Foe ($19) last seen running fourth to Brown Panther in the Irish St Leger in mid-September.

Outside of the raiders the other best fancied second acceptors in the futures Melbourne Cup odds are Kris Lees’ smart mare Lucia Valentina ($7.50) who ran a brave third as the beaten favourite in the Caulfield Cup and the Robert Hickmott-trained Fawkner ($9).

Fawkner won the Caulfield Cup last spring and was favourite for last weekend’s Cox Plate after a Caulfield Stakes victory last time out.

The Reset seven-year-old then was far from disgraced when runner-up to Adelaide in the weight-for-age feature, remaining on track for a Melbourne Cup bid for the Macedon Lodge connections of 2012 winner Green Moon.

Chris Waller also still plays a strong Melbourne Cup hand as he shoots for his first win in the famous Flemington Race 7.

The best fancied of Waller’s three horse Melbourne Cup contingent are The Metropolitan winner Junoob coming off a credible Caulfield Cup seventh and Auckland Cup winner over the distance Who Shot The Barman paying $21 each.

They are joined by stable mate Opinion, runner-up in both the Sydney Cup over the 3200m and The Metropolitan over the mile and a half, who has eased out to $51 after a disappointing sixth to Prince Of Penzance in the Group 2 Moonee Valley Gold Cup (2500m) over the weekend.

Last year’s Melbourne Cup winning trainer Gai Waterhouse (Fiorente) meanwhile has one remaining chance at back-to-back wins, the first trainer to do so since Lee Freedman who prepared Makbye Diva for the last two of her three victories in 2004 and 2005.

Waterhouse still has The Offer tracking towards a Melbourne Cup bid, the one-time favourite now at a quote of $21 to complete the Sydney Cup – Melbourne Cup double on the back of a Caulfield Cup 11^th.

Other notable Melbourne Cup second declarations include Michael Moroney’s Caulfield Cup fifth placegetter Araldo ($21), the Peter Moody-trained duo of Brambles ($21) and Lidari ($34), nine-year-old Goodwood Cup winner Cavalryman ($26), the Marco Botti-trained Geoffrey Freer winner Seismos ($26) and Geelong Cup winner Caravan Rolls On ($34).

Along with Brambles and Lidari OTI Racing also have Gatewood and Au Revoir inside the top 24 after second acceptances.

See below for the full Melbourne Cup second declarations.

The 2014 Melbourne Cup final field of 24 will now be released on Saturday live after the Victoria Derby Day racing action at Flemington from 6:00pm (AEDT).

Get behind your Melbourne Cup selections online now at Ladbrokes where your winnings are available seconds after payout in CASH thanks to the Ladbrokes.com.au!

2014 Melbourne Cup Second Declarations

Flemington Race 7 – 04/11/2014