Like a couple of old stock horses, the heroes of the 2011 Melbourne Cup are positioned to control the herd on Tuesday.
Dunaden, the narrowest Cup winner ever, and Red Cadeaux, the narrowest of losers, will start from opposite sides of the Flemington track, and the trainers of both horses believe they could again finish together.
In the final few days before the Melbourne Cup nothing has worked better than the pair of eight-year-olds.
In his final workout at Werribee on Monday, Dunaden had trainer Mikel Delzangles as happy as he’s been with the horse since he won two years ago.
“I think he’s in very good form, the same as he was two years ago, but I think he is even stronger,” Delzangles said.
“The thing is he has four kilograms more, so he needs to be.”
Dunaden will jump from the inside gate and Delzangles is wary of the perils of being swamped as the field swarms across to the rail in the 1000m run to the first turn.
“Ideally, I would like him to jump quickly, but not the quickest, to be not too far from the leader and saving something for the final 300 metres,” Delzangles said.
“The thing with him is that he loves it here in Melbourne, he improves a lot when he gets here.
“It’s been the same each time.”
Dunaden has emerged from the pack in the final few days of his preparation, turning in some of the best gallops seen at Werribee in the past month.
And Red Cadeaux, who jumps from barrier 23, has been equally encouraging.
On Friday he produced an effort that surprised trainer Ed Dunlop and had him almost begging for the fast pace that suits his horse.
“The way he’s going it would be tragic if the pace was as slow as it was last year,” Dunlop said.
“I’m very pleased with him, he absolutely loves coming here, it genuinely improves him.”
Red Cadeaux impressed again on Monday in a light canter Dunlop said would top him off perfectly.
Of the two, Red Cadeaux has the strongest recent form with a victory in the Hong Kong Vase (2400m) last December and places in both the Dubai World Cup and Japan’s best staying race, the Tenno Sho (3200m).