KEY POINTS:
MELBOURNE: Even in a normal, flu-free racing season, today's Caulfield Guineas card would hold its own.
Certainly the numbers are a little thinner and the mix of horses is lighter.
But the day many regard as the best balanced on the Melbourne calendar - and one of the best in the country - is again set to produce a worthy set of winners.
In the three group one events, the favourites are, arguably, the best horse in the country, a three-year-old with the biggest boom in years and a high-class mare who is already a dual group one winner.
Miss Finland, Weekend Hussler and Divine Madonna are enough to carry the meeting on their own.
They are backed up by the outstanding sprinting mare Gold Edition in the group two Schillaci Stakes (1000m) and a support cast that could well be collecting the three major prizes of the spring.
The Caulfield Cup favourite Maldivian opposes Cox Plate favourite Miss Finland in the Yalumba Stakes (2000m), as does Maybe Better who is on the second line of Melbourne Cup betting.
If Weekend Hussler turns out to be anywhere near as good as he looks, he will go a long way to saving the Guineas which has been won by NSW or Queensland horses in six of the past seven years.
Undoubtedly, the meeting would be massively enhanced if horses such as Fiumicino, Eremein, Racing To Win, Mentality, Takeover Target, Tuesday Joy and Meurice were running.
But they aren't - not in Melbourne or anywhere else.
Equine influenza has made sure of that.
Brad Rawiller says the first few metres in the A$1 million ($1.18 million) Guineas are crucial to the prospects of odds-on favourite Weekend Hussler winning the group one feature.
The Hussonet gelding will jump from barrier two in the 16-horse field and Rawiller will be wary his mount gets away to a good start in the 1600m race.
"Barriers five to eight would have been ideal, but from barrier two we should still be able to make our own luck," Rawiller said.
"The worst case scenario is if you happen to be a touch slow away which I think shouldn't happen, but you can't guarantee it won't.
"If you have one cross you and you end up three or four back it would be pretty hard to win from there as, being on an odds-on favourite, no-one is going to do you any favours."
Meanwhile, winning group one races is nothing new for Caulfield trainer Ross McDonald who remains supremely confident about Weekend Hussler who chases four straight wins at just his fifth start.
"I won a Golden Slipper with Courtza but she never had the hype this horse has," McDonald said last night.
"I might be a bad judge but I think he's a good thing."
AAP
