The Ciaron Maher and David Eustace stable hope stablemates Lethal Thoughts and Sir Bailey can establish their Group 1 credentials at Caulfield.
The three-year-olds are set to line up in the Group 3 Caulfield Guineas Prelude (1400m) on Saturday with a view to contesting the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m) on October 8.
Lethal Thoughts has already had a taste of Group 1 action finishing sixth, at only his third start, in the J J Atkins (1600m) at Eagle Farm in June.
He resumed from a break with a sound fifth in the Group 3 Up And Coming Stakes (1300m) at Rosehill on August 27 before being shipped back to the stable’s Ballarat yard.
Sir Bailey is yet to contest a race at Group 1 level but did run in the Group 2 VRC Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) at Flemington in March, a race his dam Jameka won as a two-year-old.
Unlike his stablemate, Sir Bailey is trained from Maher and Eustace’s Cranbourne complex and has had one run following a break, a closing fifth behind Shalaman at Moonee Valley on September 3.
While it would appear on paper that Godolphin galloper Aft Cabin has a stranglehold on the race as the $2.40 favourite with TAB, Eustace is expecting his charges to be competitive.
“I thought both were good chances,” Eustace said.
“You certainly have to respect the Godolphin horse. He looks smart and beyond that it’s an open race.
“There was merit in both their runs first-up and obviously they must up their game.
“Sir Bailey, he ran well. It was a classic milers (1600m) run over six furlongs (1200m) at The Valley and he made a little ground late.
“Lethal Thoughts was sort of the same in Sydney. He got way back in a decent race over 1300 (metres) and closed off OK.”