“Everything was stacked against him at weights and measures … he’s done a very good job” said Nick Williams after the race.

And with that run went all the fancy prices for the Melbourne Cup, and Llyod William’s former Engliash galloper is now down to $21.00 for the first Tuesday in November. And we still think that’s a fair price. You certainly wouldn’t want to be taking single figure odds about too many horses this far out, that’s for sure.

Mount Athos and Dandino are yet to be sighted this Spring, and alongside Verema and Voleuse De Coeurs, they make up a quartet of talking horses who are being steadily crunched at the odds on the basis of strong racecourse gallops.

We’d rather go with what we see in races rather than what we hear on the grapevine, that’s why there are far worse bets to be had at this stage than a speculative each way punt on a tough horse like Sea Moon.