Red Cadeaux back for fourth shot at the Melbourne Cup Robin Trevor Jones draws the barrier for Red Cadeaux during the Melbourne Cup barrier draw at Flemington on Saturday. A wry grin came over the face of a tall English gent at the back of the media scrum at the Werribee quarantine centre on Sunday, as Racing Victoria's chief handicapper, Greg Carpenter, discussed the possible finishing scenarios that might occur in Tuesday's Melbourne Cup, and the fact that there had never been a dead-heat in the race. If not for modern technology, Ed Dunlop would have been the trainer of a dead-heat Cup winner, but in 2011, VRC judge Bill Quin was able to find what was described as a "pixel margin" in favour of Dunaden over Dunlop's Red Cadeaux. "It made me laugh, but that's racing isn't it, they don't want a dead-heat," said Dunlop, who is back again for a fourth tilt at the Melbourne Cup with the chestnut gelding. Since then, Red Cadeaux has finished fifth, then second again last year. When asked what winning a Melbourne Cup would mean to him, Dunlop simply said "everything." While Dunlop has fallen for the Cup's lure, he says it was Red Cadeaux's owner, Ron Arculli, who originally encouraged him to bring the stayer to Melbourne. "It means a huge amount to Ron Arculli," Dunlop said of the former chairman of the Hong Kong Jockey Club who first had a runner in the Melbourne Cup 20 years ago, when he sent River Verdon from Hong Kong to finish 20th behind Jeune. It was his [Arculli's] dream to win the Melbourne Cup with Red Cadeaux, and he's kindly paid and done it four times. Dunlop points out that bringing a horse to Melbourne and back home again is expensive - in the order of $120,000 to $150,000 -and beyond the means of many owners. I have another good staying horse called Times Up and was keen to bring him, but the cost was too great for two English owner-breeders. It has been a long journey for Red Cadeaux and Dunlop, with the trainer buying the horse cheaply through agent Charles Gordon-Watson as a yearling and he struggled for success in his early years. "He was a very late-maturing horse," Dunlop said. He started off with a lowly rating of 72, and I think he got beaten with that rating. It wasn't until he was four and five that he started to improve. Dunlop has trained champion fillies Ouija Board and Snow Fairy, and while Red Cadeaux doesn't possess their ability, he has been an incredible horse for the stable. For this [the Melbourne Cup] and the things he's done and where he's come from, he hasn't got the ability of those champion fillies, but he's just been an amazing horse for us. This year Red Cadeaux, along with regular companions, assistant trainer Robin Trevor-Jones and rider Steve Nicholson, arrived earlier than in previous years with an intention to run in the Caulfield Cup. Dunlop subsequently decided not to give the nine-year-old what would have been two runs on firm tracks, but the longer acclimatisation might work in his favour. "Robin and Steve have been very happy with him, his weight is good and everything seems fine," Dunlop said. We just hope he gets a good passage, and that it's a truly run race, not a trot and a sprint. Win, lose or draw, Red Cadeaux will become the most prolific international Cup runner - Shadow King ran in six Cups in the 1930s - and Dunlop has not entirely ruled out another tilt next year. How do you know [that he won't be back]? I didn't think I was coming back this year, and then he ran second to Fiorente, and on ratings, ran the best race of his life.