The father-son training team of Tony and Calvin McEvoy are well aware of the considerable challenge awaiting Half Yours as the horse aims to secure a second consecutive Caulfield Cup victory.
Half Yours, who triumphed last year carrying one of the lowest weights, will now shoulder the topweight in the 150th edition of the famous 2400-metre handicap this Saturday.
Calvin McEvoy shared that the Caulfield Cup’s history, which shows a strong record for topweighted horses, gives the team confidence that Half Yours can once again be a significant contender on Saturday.
On Saturday, Half Yours will be elevated from 52.5kg to 57.5kg, a notable increase from the 53kg he carried to win the Melbourne Cup last year.
“The history of the Caulfield Cup shows that it can be won by a topweight and that gives us confidence,” McEvoy said.
“Comparing that to the Melbourne Cup, it is a much more difficult task, but at the end of the day we have an elite stayer that is great at 2400 and 3200 metres.
“If we’re too scared to run with big weights, we’ll be leaving him at home in the box.
“We have to attack the challenge head on, and we have good faith in the horse that he can do it.”
While Half Yours has not crossed the line first in his six starts since his Melbourne Cup win last year, his performances have still pleased his trainers.
In his most recent run, he finished 6-½ lengths behind the winner in a brutally run Turnbull Stakes (2000m), a race that proved too much for many other competitors.
However, that effort is considered to have brought Half Yours forward, and a gallop during the week should have the stayer at his absolute best on Saturday.
“It was a pass mark last start,” McEvoy said.
“It was brutally run and he was second-up.
“I don’t think any of us trainers that have been training our horses to peak on Saturday saw that tempo coming and it brought a few unstuck.
“The main thing about those hard contests is it’s not how the run affected them but on how your horses come through them.
“He’s bounced through it and derived a lot of benefit along with another good strong gallop.”
Jamie Melham, who rode Half Yours to his Cup double success last year, is currently in Sydney to ride in The Everest.
Mark Zahra will take over the ride, and critically, Half Yours has drawn a good gate.
“It takes a lot of the guess work out of it,” McEvoy said.
“In these high-pressure big handicaps, drawing wide dictates what you have to do.
“We were lucky last year in that he drew very well in the Caulfield Cup and the Melbourne Cup, and he has been unlucky since then drawing, although a few small fields, the outside which has dictated our plans.
“The draw will allow Mark Zahra to switch him off, conserve his energy, which is an asset that he has, and all stayers have, and then get the luck at the right time.
“Mark galloped him on the course-proper at Flemington on Tuesday morning and really liked him.
“He’s a lovely horse and he is easy to like.”
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