T he 2026 Melbourne Cup is not due off until 4am GMT on Tuesday – which is 3pm local time on what is still a public holiday in the state of Victoria – but there has already been some spectacular action in the betting market for the “race that stops a nation” over the last few hours, with the Irish punting legend JP McManus, no less, leading the charge.

McManus and his fellow owner, Paul Byrne, were among the attendees at the “Call Of The Card” luncheon, a A$340-a-head (£178) event in Melbourne on Monday, which has been a popular feature of the big-race buildup since 1958.

The centrepiece of the event sees four leading bookmakers “take on the room”, and give everyone in the 1,000-strong sell-out audience a chance to back each of the 24 runners, starting with the outsiders and concluding with the market leaders.

When George Boughey’s Hopewell Rock, the runner-up in the Ebor Handicap at York in August, was offered to the room at $10 – ie 9-1 – Byrne immediately grabbed the microphone (at 2h31m in the video…