Caulfield Cup presents weighty challenge for Half Yours

Tony and Calvin McEvoy, the father-and-son training duo, are fully cognizant of the significant task that lies before them as Half Yours aims for a consecutive Caulfield Cup triumph.

Having previously won the Cup with one of the lowest weights, Half Yours will now carry the burden of topweight in the 150th anniversary running of the iconic 2400-metre handicap this Saturday.

Calvin McEvoy noted that the Caulfield Cup's historical data, showing a strong record for horses carrying the most weight, instils confidence in the team regarding Half Yours's potential to be a competitive force once again on Saturday.

Half Yours is set to increase his weight from 52.5kg to 57.5kg for Saturday's race, a significant jump from the 53kg he carried to victory in 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."

Although Half Yours has not secured a win in his six starts since his Melbourne Cup success last year, his performances have met with the approval of his trainers.

In his most recent outing, he finished 6-½ lengths behind the winner in a gruelling Turnbull Stakes (2000m), a race that proved challenging for many other participants.

Nevertheless, this run is seen as beneficial for Half Yours, and a subsequent gallop will ensure the stayer is at peak condition for Saturday's event.

"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 guided Half Yours to victory in both Cups last year, will be absent as he is in Sydney to ride in The Everest.

Mark Zahra is set to take over the ride, and crucially, Half Yours has drawn a favourable barrier.

"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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