Racing: Xcellent settles in for Cox Plate duties

Xcellent will this morning have his first look at Moonee Valley, where next Saturday he hopes to join the legends in the A$3 million ($3.2 million) Cox Plate.

Trainer Mike Moroney will float the New Zealand champ from Flemington to acquaint him with the unique structure of the velodrome-like circumference of Moonee Valley.

Melbourne-based Greg Childs will make a special trip to the Valley to ride Xcellent in the absence of regular jockey Michael Coleman, who is riding at Rotorua today.

Coleman will fly to Melbourne on Monday to partner Xcellent at the Breakfast With The Stars at Moonee Valley on Tuesday morning.

Xcellent will not be asked for anything special this morning.

"He'll probably go 1600m at threequarter pace, perhaps quickening a little in the final stages," said managing part-owner Paul Moroney.

"He will go quicker at the Breakfast With The Stars, which will probably be his last serious piece of work before the big race."

Xcellent arrived in Melbourne on Tuesday and has pleased Mike Moroney with the way he has settled.

Mike said he ate half his Tuesday night feed, threequarters of the Wednesday night feed and licked the bowl clean last night.

He said Xcellent arrived a little tucked up, as they do after a flight, but has settled down and was happy and contented.

Mike Moroney told his brother yesterday he was pleased that the media spotlight, very strong after Xcellent's remarkable Kelt Capital Stakes victory, is off the horse even though he is now in Australia. "Since all the other [top] horses have stood up in the last week or so, the headlines have belonged to them."

Mike said he was delighted to find himself in that position because it takes some of the pressure off.

Melbourne bookmaking manager Brian Taylor of Doublebet, says that will only be temporary.

"It's only because everyone is focused on the Caulfield Cup. It hasn't made any difference to the volume of money coming in for Xcellent - it just continues to pour in."

Taylor said even the stunning victory by Gods Own in last week's A$1 million Caulfield Guineas has not deflected the interest in Xcellent.

"I can tell you, Xcellent has been more popular than Gods Own this week, which is why he is still a solid second favourite for the Cox Plate with us.

"As long as the sun keeps shining I think that trend will continue. If it rains, and that's always a possibility, I believe the trend will swing the other way towards Gods Own."

Makybe Diva is the hot Cox Plate favourite at $2.50 with Xcellent on $7. Gods Own is at $8, Confectioner and Lad Of The Manor on $9.

Makybe Diva is the $4.50 favourite to take her third successive Melbourne Cup. Perth stayer Plastered is chasing her hard in that race at $6 with Xcellent, yet to attempt 3200m, back in third spot at $9.

Today's A$2.5 million Caulfield Cup is without question the most difficult race to pick throughout the spring carnival in Melbourne.

That's because luck is such a huge factor. You could run the same horses week after week around Caulfield for the same money and get 10 different results.

In terms of weight, the most recent emerging star El Segundo should be a good thing - he beat them senseless in last week's Yalumba Stakes carrying 57kg under weight-for-age and drops to 49.5kg.

But - and it's a big but - from the No 4 barrier he will get back on the rails, at least as far back as midfield and as the $3.40 favourite and the horse to beat he will get absolutely no favours from rival jockeys.

At some stage, probably about the 800m, Darren Gauci is going to have make a serious decision on El Segundo. It's why genuine group one Australian riders drive around in Daimlers.

You can see luck perhaps going the wrong way for him, but that's going to be the case as it always is in Caulfield Cups for half the runners.

If El Segundo gets the breaks he should win.

Western Australian stayer Plastered is second favourite. He is certainly going to be harder to beat with the jump to 2400m, but he was uninspiring in his fifth behind Makybe Diva in the Turnbull Stakes.

He has been backed to win fortune in the Melbourne Cup and Flemington, the scene of his Victoria Derby victory, is his type of course.

Plastered does not have a huge sprint, but, man, can he stay. That type of horse is not always suited to Caulfield.

Remarkably, Leica Falcon, another who has been heavily backed in the Melbourne Cup, has had only eight race starts, winning five of them.

The way he won the Winning Edge at Caulfield last Saturday, you'd have to wonder what happened in the three he didn't win.

He simply slaughtered them and although this is a pretty good step up in class, he's got a lot more to show.

With Auckland Cup winner Bazelle on the ballot, New Zealand's only hope is Vouvray, trained in Melbourne by Peter Moody. Her form on paper does not excite you, but individually the races have been much better than that.

She drops from weight-for-age to a very handy 51.5kg and can figure. Scott Seamer is very talented rider of stayers.