The biggest threats to the equal fave.
Calvin McEvoy, the co-trainer of Melbourne Cup equal favourite Half Yours, is well aware that there is strong competition in this year’s great race.
The Caulfield Cup winner is currently the $6 elect with Sportsbet alongside Chris Waller’s recent Bart Cummings winner Valiant King.
Breathing down the necks of that pair for favouritism is international raider Al Riffa, trained by two-time Cup-winning trainer Joseph O’Brien, who McEvoy is quite wary of.
“I’m scared the most of Al Riffa who we haven’t seen out here yet,” he said on SENTrack & RSN’s Giddy Up.
“He’s a quality horse, he’s a proven traveller, a proven Group 1 winner, proven stayer, he’s got the pedigree, he handles the soft ground.
“He is the one, if he can carry the weight.”
The winning Cup hopes, as is always the case, don’t end there.
McEvoy is looking at three other horses in the market who all races in the Caulfield Cup and have the ability to salute at Flemington over 3200m next Tuesday.
“I thought Presage Nocturne ran very well, I thought Valiant King was enormous and Meydaan will improve,” McEvoy added.
“There’s a lot of horses that we fear.
“People will look at the Caulfield Cup. We had to make a run and had to do it a bit the hard way, whereas second (River Of Stars) and third (Valiant King) got cruisy runs.
“A different race shape at Flemington, we can be a bit more conservative, let the race unfold, trust the Flemington straight, trust our horse’s fitness and let him chime in at the right time.”
McEvoy insists Half Yours is in perfect order ahead of his two-mile assignment on the second day of the four-day Flemington Carnival.
Despite the Caulfield Cup being his Grand Final, Half Yours is jumping out of his skin ahead of the Melbourne Cup.
“He’s perfect, he’s really good,” McEvoy said of his new stable star.
“He bounced through the Caulfield Cup. I’m pleased to report our horse ate it up and he’s asking for more.”
So, can he win a Melbourne Cup? And what type of conditions will suit him the best?
“I think he can. We don’t know where the ceiling is with him,” McEvoy continued.
“He’s never let us down and the weather looks ideal for him. He loves getting his toe in.
“Flemington needs a substantial amount of rain to really affect it but it’s looking like it’s going to hose down. I’ve been doing the rain dance.
“He’s proven he’s effective on everything, so there’s nothing we’re too worried about.
“What I do know is when we get onto a rain-affected track it can slow the opposition down and he doesn’t slow down, he gets better.”
Jamie Melham, who won the Caulfield Cup on Half Yours, will ride the emerging star stayer in the Melbourne Cup.
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