Former bookmaker Tom Waterhouse has surprised many by backing a roughie to win $1 million.

He was more than happy to take the $101 on offer about New Zealand galloper  The Chosen One  to win seven figures, as he threw $10,000 on the outsider.

The Chosen One  four-year-old horse trained by Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman defeated  Prince Of Arran  earlier in the spring.

Waterhouse spoke to  Racing.com  about the decision.

“I backed a few at big odds, hopefully can get the win tomorrow,” he  explained.

However, things aren’t looking good for Waterhouse as the horse has drawn the notorious barrier 18 for today’s race, where no  horse has ever won the Melbourne Cup.

The Kiwi outsider wasn’t the only horse to capture Waterhouse’s interest, as he also heavily invested on the Joseph O’Brien-trained  Latrobe  at $21.

The five-year-old horse had one run in Melbourne last spring, and finished runner up to  Trap For Fools  in the Mackinnon Stakes, but Waterhouse couldn’t get what he wanted from the bookies.

“I wanted to back Latrobe if I got $26 to win a million bucks but I could only get to $21 (from the bookmakers)… and The Chosen One, I think it’ll be flying home at massive odds, it’s a 100-1 shot.”

Other Melbourne Cup contenders who were backed by Waterhouse on Monday included  Magic Wand, Downdraft  and  Twilight Payment.

Despite the track being in the soft range after a day of rain, the weather is set to improve by race time at 3pm.