Ciaron Maher hopes King Charles III lives to rue the decision to part with Point Of Law as the Melbourne Cup favourite spearheads the master trainer's record-setting assault on Australia's most famous race.
Maher, who won the 2022 Cup with Gold Trip, has eight horses positioned in the top 25 in the order of entry for the $10.2 million feature at Flemington on November 3.
His stable could make up one-third of the field, with Geelong Cup winner Point Of Law leading the charge.
The well-bred yet lightly-raced import is a $6 favourite, while Juja Kibo ($15) has emerged as a contender after securing a ballot exemption by winning the Moonee Valley Gold Cup.
Maher also has Shockletz, Mr Monaco, Middle Earth, Royal Supremacy, Saint George and Zahrann in the mix.
Robert Hickmott had a record six runners for seven-time winning owner Lloyd Williams in the 2013 Cup, which was won by Gai Waterhouse-trained Fiorente.
"We've had multiple runners in the past few years but the amount (we've got this year) I'm pretty proud of," Maher said.
"All of them have a bit of a sense of timing about them ... you could make a case for every one of them.
"We were fortunate we were able to win it once and he was an extremely good horse, Gold Trip, but I think this is the strongest hand I've had.
"It's certainly the biggest, but there are some very talented horses in there."
The Maher camp bought Point Of Law from the royal stable after the son of Frankel won the Group 3 Bahrain Trophy (2615m) at Newmarket in July.
It was Point Of Law's second win in only four starts, and his subsequent Geelong Cup triumph last Wednesday led to him being installed as the Melbourne Cup favourite.
Maher said his purchase would "hopefully" prove to be the king's loss.
"Point Of Law is one of our best chances. He is very young though, very raw," Maher said.
"It's only going to be his sixth start, but he was very impressive the other day (at Geelong) and he rated very well.
"He will improve - he hadn't run for quite a while."
Maher believes Middle Earth ($21) is also one of his best Cup chances after finishing third behind winner Half Yours and Goodie Two Shoes last year.
"He's a proper two-miler and he's got the engine to do it," Maher said.
"I just thought he peaked a little bit last year on his run. He sort of went to win the race but he just wasn't quite hard enough.
"I think he's in better form, he's had a brilliant prep and I think he's going that little bit better.
"He's sort of seasoned now, whereas Point Of Law's got an amazing amount of ability and talent, but whether he's seasoned enough will be the thing."
Two-time Cup-winning trainer Joseph O'Brien also has a significant hand this year with six runners - Defiantly, Sons And Lovers, Trustyourinstinct, Goodie Two Shoes and James J Braddock - inside the cutline.
Trustyourinstinct is a $9 second-favourite, with Defiantly ($11) equal-third in betting.
Irishman O'Brien first won the Cup with Rekindling in 2017 and was the most recent northern hemisphere trainer to triumph when Twilight Payment won in 2020.
"Joseph is a fantastic trainer and he's been successful a couple of times in the race already from not a lot of runners," Maher said.
"He's always a force to be reckoned with. But we don't want it going overseas - we want to keep it here."
