Almandin remains the favourite to defend his Melbourne Cup crown

Almandin remains the favourite to defend his Melbourne Cup crown and give his owner Lloyd Williams a sixth win in the race he covets most.

Williams has six runners in the Cup at Flemington. 

But his best three runners are Almandin, Bondi Beach and Gallante.

Who Shot Thebarman is back this year. 

Other favourites are Boom Time, Hartnel, US Army Ranger and Red Cardinal.

The Melbourne Cup race will start at 4pm Tuesday.

Barrier draw in full (jockeys in brackets)

Bondi Beach (Michael Walker)

Max Dynamite (Zac Purton)

Johannes Vermeer (Ben Melham)

Rekindling (Corey Brown)

Big Duke (Brenton Avdulla)

Ventura Storm (Glen Boss)

Libran (Dwayne Dunn)

Wicklow Brave (Stephen Baster)

Boom Time (Cory Parish)

Amelie's Star (Dean Yendall)

Single Gaze (Kathy O'Hara)

Hartnell (Damien Lane)

Humidor (Blake Shinn)

Almandin (Frankie Dettori)

Wall of Fire (Craig Williams)

Marmelo (Hugh Bowman)

Cismontane (Beau Mertens)

Gallante (Michael Dee)

Nakeeta (Glyn Schofield)

Who Shot Thebarman (Tommy Berry)

Thomas Hobson (Joao Moreira)

US Army Ranger (Jamie Spencer)

Tiberian (Olivier Peslier)

Red Cardinal (Kerrin McEvoy)

Source: ABC