SIMON O'DONNELL is a racing commentator, the founder of Wingara Thoroughbreds and a former Australian international cricketer.

I think the Lexus Melbourne Cup is going to be a good pressure race this year.

With the influence of horses from wide that are good fancies and horses inside that want to be on speed means there's not a lot of time to sit around and think about things.

There are plenty of overseas runners who have queries over them for different reasons, but one of them is in with a red-hot chance of taking out the great race. 

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*All odds courtesy of TAB as of Tuesday 8am

1. Al Riffa (19)

Weight: 59kg

Trainer: Joseph O'Brien

Jockey: Mark Zahra

Career: 17: 5-6-1

Odds: $7 / $2.80

Probably one of the bet

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