So You Think is poised to start as the shortest-priced favourite in decades to give legendary Australian trainer Bart Cummings a record 13th Melbourne Cup victory at Flemington today.

The Malaysian-owned four-year old is all the rage and is unbeaten in five starts this spring, including four Group One wins, among them the Cox Plate and the Mackinnon Stakes weight-for-age races.

Timeform rates So You Think above all the record nine international runners in the field and the horse is at 11-5 with the bookmakers on the eve of Australia’s famous 3,200m handicap race.

Most of the rival stables believe So You Think, to carry 56kgs, is the horse to beat and can deliver “Cups King” Cummings his 13th winner.

Irish jockey Patrick Smullen, who will be on board Dermot Weld’s mare Profound Beauty, fears So You Think will be too good for his rivals.

“He’s probably one of the best horses running in the world at the moment,” Smullen said.

“He’s an amazing horse and if he stays the distance, which I fearfully think he will, then he’s going to be extremely hard to beat.”

So dominant has Cummings been in Melbourne Cup folklore since his first success with Light Fingers in 1965 that the next most successful Cup trainers are Etienne De Mestre and Lee Freedman, each with a mere five winners.

So You Think could also become Malaysian property tycoon Dato Tan Chin Nam’s fifth Melbourne Cup winner after his previous successes with Think Big (1974, 1975) Saintly (1996) and Viewed (2008), all in association with Cummings.

The only doubt surrounding So You Think’s chances is his ability to stay the entire two-mile distance, given that he has yet to race beyond 2,040m.