Hartnell, won Queen's Vase 3219m, 4th Sydney Cup 3200m, 15th 2015 Melbourne Cup, jock said pace was just too slow, couldn’t make up ground
Jameka, Caulfied Cup winner, also won Oaks 2500m, on pace should keep out of trouble
Bondi Beach, 2nd St Leger 2917m, 1st Vintage Crop 2816m, lightly raced & good strike rate
Almandin, winner Harry White Classic 2400m & The Bart Cummings 2500m, another lightly raced & good strike rate

Bondi Beach also 16th 2015 Melbourne Cup, similar comments from jock to Hartnell

..west aussie real love..to run in the lexus stakes next sat
..how she performs in that race will determine if a start in the cup

Fanatic has returned to NZ

Only 32 remain in contention (42 at this stage last year). Still needing to pass the first ballot clause are:
De Little Engine
The Bandit
Tom Melbourne

They've all nominated for the Lexus Stakes, in which they must finish in the top 3 placegetters (and likely hope for a weight penalty as - without further dropouts - the best they can otherwise manage is 27th in the Order of Entry).

All weights move up 1kg so that the topweights (Big Orange and Our Ivanhowe) are on 57kg.

1 5324x47121 JAMEKA M 4 Ciaron Maher 1 53.5kg 2.0kg
2 x221x66511 ALMANDIN (GER) G 7 Robert Hickmott 2 51kg 1.0kg
3 7x5x23x11x BIG ORANGE (GB) G 6 Michael Bell 3 56kg
4 0x5501x586 OUR IVANHOWE (GER) H 7 Lee & Anthony Freedman 4 56kg
5 x300x620x9 CURREN MIROTIC (JPN) G 9 Osamu Hirata 5 55.5kg
6 50x5x21112 HARTNELL (GB) G 6 John O'Shea 6 55kg
7 0324x65272 WHO SHOT THEBARMAN (NZ) G 8 Chris Waller 7 55kg
8 3333x26431 WICKLOW BRAVE (GB) G 8 William Mullins 8 55kg
9 1220x11x33 BONDI BEACH (IRE) H 5 Aidan O'Brien 9 55kg
10 1413x18353 EXOSPHERIC (GB) H 5 Lee & Anthony Freedman 10 55kg
11 2251x31212 SCOTTISH (IRE) G 5 Charlie Appleby 11 54.5kg
12 11113x0230 TALLY H 4 John O'Shea 12 52.5kg
13 8533x72691 GRAND MARSHAL (GB) G 7 Chris Waller 13 53.5kg
14 069x031x27 GALLANTE (IRE) G 6 Robert Hickmott 14 53.5kg
15 x9065x8084 ALMOONQITH (USA) H 7 David & B Hayes & T Dabernig 15 53.5kg
16 32114x2715 REAL LOVE M 6 Darren Weir 16 52kg 0.5kg
17 2x1322x210 SIR JOHN HAWKWOOD (IRE) G 8 John P Thompson 17 53kg 1.5kg
18 00x101x11x HEARTBREAK CITY (FR) G 7 Tony Martin 18 53kg
19 111134x075 HOWARD BE THY NAME H 4 Darren Weir 19 51.5kg
20 x6153x1553 BEAUTIFUL ROMANCE (GB) M 5 Saeed Bin Suroor 20 51.5kg
21 17x20x9834 EXCESS KNOWLEDGE (GB) H 7 Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott 21 52.5kg
22 8x1153x921 ASSIGN (IRE) G 6 Robert Hickmott 22 51kg 1.0kg
23 361x2x12x1 SECRET NUMBER (GB) G 7 Saeed Bin Suroor 23 51kg
24 32x1837x82 GREY LION (IRE) H 5 Matt Cumani 24 51kg
25 22x00x22x1 QEWY (IRE) G 7 Charlie Appleby 25 50.5kg 0.5kg
26 13254x0673 PENTATHLON (NZ) G 5 John Wheeler 26 50.5kg
27 462102x094 ROSE OF VIRGINIA (NZ) M 7 Lee & Shannon Hope 27 50kg
28 x1145x5248 VENGEUR MASQUE (IRE) G 5 Michael Moroney 28 50kg
29 x11x4017x3 OCEANOGRAPHER (GB) G 5 Charlie Appleby 29 50kg
30 x7733x8679 DE LITTLE ENGINE G 6 Danny O'Brien 30= 50kg
31 81642x4756 THE BANDIT (JPN) H 5 John Sadler 30= 50kg
32 1x110x2662 TOM MELBOURNE (IRE) G 6 Lee & Anthony Freedman 30= 50kg

Bendigo Cup acceptances have also been released. Only Howard Be Thy Name remains in the field and as a Melbourne Cup potential (currently in 19th position in the order of entry). The Offer won this race last year and did not receive a weight penalty. Tanby got a 1kg penalty for the same feat in 2011, but given that Howard Be Thy Name is already on 51.5kg and with respect to the relevant merits of his competitors, probably can safely win without earning a penalty - unless it's an outstanding victory.

Francis of Assisi also accepted, but didn't pay the second Melbourne Cup nomination fee. Not sure what this says about his chances in this race...

qewy looked quite good

Scottish, all wins 1799 - 2018m range, did run 2nd in the Caulfield Cup & has gone from unlikely starter to likely
Exospheric, all wins 2012 - 2414m range, good 3rd in the Caulfield Cup
Heartbreak City, Win range 2000 - 3319m, looks well handicapped

"Aspro's Melbourne Cup System".

I don't know who Aspro is, but if you google the name you'll find the source. It was made freely available so I don't believe I'm stepping on anyone's toes... Had 4 choices last year, including the eventual 100-1 winner, Prince of Penzance. According to their figures, it's got 38 of the last 53 winners.

Rule 1 List any Cup acceptor placed in either the Caulfield Cup and MacKinnon Stakes
Caulfield Cup: Jameka, Scottish, Exospheric. MacKinnon Stakes: now called the Emirates Stakes and held after the Cup....don't know how that's supposed to work anymore.

Rule 2 List any Cup acceptor placed 2nd, 3rd or 4th in the Moonee Valley Gold Cup
Who Shot Thebarman, Pentathlon, Excess Knowledge

Rule 3 List any acceptor who was placed 1-2-3 in the Melbourne Cup at their last cup run
N/A

Rule 4 List the Lexus Stakes winner
TBD - Nominations extended 'til tomorrow morning but presently include De Little Engine, Pentathlon, Real Love, Rose of Virginia, Tally, The Bandit or Tom Melbourne.

Rule 5 Delete any horse whose last run in the Melbourne Cup was an unplaced run.
Delete - Excess Knowledge (7th 2015), Who Shot Thebarman (11th 2015),

Rule 6 Delete any horse who is aged 3yo or 7yo or older.
Leaves: Jameka, Scottish, Exospheric, Pentathlon (if he makes the final field) and - if they happen to win the Lexus and back up in The Cup - one of De Little Engine, Real Love, Tally, The Bandit or Tom Melbourne

These horses ran in last years cup

Big Orange 5th
800m 1st, 400m 3rd, margin 2.4L
Rider pleaded guilty to a charge of careless riding

Excess Knowledge 7th
800m 2nd, 400m 1st, margin 3.1L
Nil report

Our Ivanhowe 10th
800m 10th, 400m 9th, margin 3.9L
Tightened at the 250m when tightened for room by Big Orange which shifted in away from Excess Knowledge

Who Shot Thebarman 11th
800m 7th, 400m 5th, margin 4L
Checked severely at the 200m when tightened for room between Trip To Paris which shifted in and Criterion which was taken out by Excess Knowledge

Hartnell 15th
800m 22nd, 400m 23rd, margin 5.9L
Inconvenienced rounding the home turn

Bondi Beach 16th
800m 12th, 400m 12th, margin 6.2L
Hampered near the 350m when Sky Hunter shifted out after being inconvenienced. Rider Brett Prebble will be severely reprimanded for using his whip six times forehand prior to the 100m which is two times more than permitted

Almoonqith 18th
800m 21st, 400m 22nd, margin 6.9L
Bounded at the start

Grand Marshal 21st
800m 14th, 400m 15th, margin 14.75L
Checked severely and almost fell near the 350m