MAD RUSH and All The Good, Britain's two representatives in the Caulfield Cup, look up against it in Saturday's Group 1 event if the ante-post lists of British-based bookmakers are any guide.
Mad Rush is the mount of Damien Oliver, in Group 1-winning form on Wednesday at Caulfield in the Thousand Guineas – and the Luca Cumani-trained four-year-old is a best-priced 18-1 with Totesport for the A$2.5million (£980,000) event after being drawn out wide in stall 17 of 18 runners.
Godolphin's All The Good, who starts from box eight, is widely available at 25-1.
Both horses are using the 1m4f event as a prep race for the Melbourne Cup on November 4, following in the footsteps of Mad Rush's stablemate Purple Moon, sixth last year in the Caulfield before being narrowly beaten in the Flemington two-miler.
All The Good, the mount of Kerrin McEvoy, won Newbury's ‘Ebor replacement', the Newburgh Handicap, on his most recent start.
“He's a lovely outsider,” said the rider. “He's got to bring his best form for Saturday but he'd have to be a good each-way chance.”
Favourite all round for the Caulfield Cup is 9-2 shot Littorio, who beat a plethora of Group 1 winners earlier this month in the Turnbull Stakes over 1m2f at Flemington.
He is drawn ten, right next to Aussie superstar Weekend Hussler, aiming to put behind him a poor run in the Turnbull as he goes for his eighth Group 1 win.
The four-year-old, subject to what was described in the local press as a “massive plunge” earlier this week, is 5-1 in Britain.
The usual stellar field also includes Master O'Reilly, bidding to become only the third horse to record back-to-back wins in the race.
"The records say it is pretty tough to go back-to-back but the horse is going great and I can't fault him," said rider Vlad Duric.
Caulfield Cup
Coral: 4 Littorio, 9-2 Weekend Hussler, 7 Master O'Reilly, 12 Douro Valley, Guillotine, Mad Rush, 16 All The Good, Maldivian, Nom Du Jeu, Red Ruler, Riva San, Boundless, 20 bar
Ladbrokes: 4 Littorio, 5 Weekend Hussler, 6 Master O'Reilly, 10 Douro Valley, Guillotine, 12 Mad Rush, 16 Maldivian, Red Ruler, Zagreb, 20 All The Good, Boundless, 25 bar
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