The 2007 Melbourne Cup winner Efficient will not take his chance in this year's renewal having failed to progress sufficiently in the attempt to bring him back to peak fitness in time for 'the race that stops a nation', writes Elliot Slater. Efficient's absence from the starting line-up is far from a surprise, the seven-year-old's owner Lloyd Williams having repeatedly hinted that the horse wasn't making the necessary progress and was a doubtful contender for the world's richest two-mile handicap race. Despite having been allotted the steadier of joint top-weight (along with John Oxx's Irish raider Alandi), there were still those who hoped that the son of Nabeel would be able to take his chance and bid to reprise his famous 2007 success, in which he came with a swooping late run under Michael Rodd to deny the Luca Cumani-trained Purple Moon by half-a-length. A fragile horse who has proved difficult to keep sound for long periods, Efficient was last seen in action when putting up another tremendous performance to land the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes over a mile-and-a-quarter at Flemington last October, under Nicholas Hall, holding on in a desperate finish to beat Predatory Pricer by a short-head. Connections will be hopeful that their winner of over £1.8 million in career prize money will make it back to the track later this term, as he has relatively few miles on the clock having started just 14 races in over four seasons and proved himself a versatile performer at distances as varied as seven furlongs and two miles. Last year's Melbourne Cup winner Shocking remains on course in the Melbourne Cup odds to defend his title and is a strong favourite to follow up on November 3rd having shown his wellbeing with a brilliant win over a mile at Flemington at the weekend.
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