Sky Hunter remains in the mix for the Melbourne Cup following his third place at Kempton in his first start since being unplaced at Flemington last year.

The Godolphin-owned six-year-old, trained by Saeed bin Suroor, ran in Saturday's Group Three September Stakes (2400m) on the Polytrack.

"Sky Hunter needed the run and will improve for it," bin Suroor said.

"We will keep the options open for him and see how he comes out of this race.

"He is one of our horses entered for races in Australia but there are other options too."