In a packed program of racing Howard will be aiming to join the great Sid Patterson as the only men to have won the race three times.

“The Melbourne Cup on Wheels will be right up there in my priorities for the night,” Howard said.

“Sid Patterson is the only man to have won the race three times so to be alongside his name would be awesome.”

The Geelong rider’s first win in 2005 marked him as a future star when he got the better dual Athens Olympic gold medallist Ryan Bayley.

“The first one I won is really stuck in my memory because I managed to knocked off Ryan Bayley and to come over the top of him was pretty good,” the 19-year-old said.

Last year’s edition of the race was held in front of a capacity crowd and the same is expected again this year.

However, 1953 winner Keith Anderson put the growing popularity of cycling in perspective.

“At the Essendon board track we had a crowd of 17,000 (3,000 more were turned away) and there was only about eight million people in Australia then compared to the 21 million now. But people were pretty keen on sport then because they didn’t have television,” Anderson said.

The 80-year-old, who only stopped racing with the veterans five years ago, has a connection with both Howard and the late Sid Patterson.

“He (Patterson) grew up around the corner and was a good friend of mine. Before I won I was training with him and Keith Reynolds and they really got me going,” Anderson said.

“(Later) I also raced with the Geelong and Northern Veterans and remember Leigh Howard coming out with his mother to ride with the us vets 10 years ago.”

Anderson, who has had 16 operations in recent years due to old crash injuries catching up with him, will be at Hisense Arena for the first time to see if Howard can live up to the expectations of favouritism just as he did 55 years ago.

To collect his third victory in the 2000 metre Melbourne Cup on Wheels Howard will again have to beat dual Athens Olympic gold medallist Graeme Brown, who finish second in 2007.

Another of his main rivals will be his Geelong training partner, James Langedyk, 19, who won the race in 2006 and is coached by Howard’s mother Kim.

Howard said both he and Langedyk are in good form and will have a good shot at taking the trophy back to Geelong for the fourth year running.

Howard will also team up with Glenn O’Shea in the 25 kilometre Madison to take on a world class field including Tour de France green jersey winners Robbie McEwen and Baden Cooke.