Australia’s leading female jockey Jamie Melham declared light-weight gelding Half Yours the perfect horse to tackle Saturday’s (18 October) G1 Caulfield Cup (2400m).

Half Yours, trained by father and son duo Tony & Calvin McEvoy, has had a meteoric rise through the ranks to progress from winning a restricted 1600m race at Seymour in April to taking out the G3 Naturalism Stakes (2000m) at Caulfield on 20 September.

In his last run on 4 October, the five-year-old finished fourth in the G1 Turnbull Stakes (2000m) at Flemington, beaten just under three lengths.

It was an effort that thrilled the trainers and Melham.

“That was an exciting race, the Turnbull. The fastest last 600 (metres) and 200 of the race, taking ground off Via Sistina – she’s no hack is she?,” Melham said. “It was a very nice lead-up I thought.”

Melham said Half Yours could perform on any track condition and described the gelding as “push button”.

“You can push him early, get him to settle and think he is just a perfect horse for that race,” she said.

Half Yours was handed a 1.5kg (3.3lb) weight penalty for the Caulfield Cup after winning the Naturalism Stakes and will now carry 52.5kg (116lb).

Calvin McEvoy said drawing barrier two was a huge advantage for Half Yours, who has won six of his 13 races, with three seconds.

“It’s really good, these are high pressure contests and we watch replays and the pressure comes on a long way out. So drawn inside with a horse that can hold a spot is going to mean that he is going to get a restful first half of the race which I think is so important,” McEvoy said.

“We know he can absorb pressure. We couldn’t be more happier with the barrier.”

Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott’s top weight Vauban drew barrier 13, but it hasn’t concerned the stable after the gelding ran a close fifth in the G1 The Metropolitan (2400m) at Royal Randwick on 4 October.

“He is thriving and has done very well,” Waterhouse said. “He got very far back in The Metrop and chased the winner home.”

International raiders – the Simon & Ed Crisford-trained Meydaan, the Willie Mullins-trained Absurde and Japanese mare Golden Snap, trained by Katsunori Tanaka, are all hoping for a slice of the AU$5 million (approx. HK$25 million) prize money.

Tanaka said Golden Snap, who drew the outside barrier 18, could be hard to handle and that’s the reason why he has flown in Japanese jockey Suguru Hamanaka.

He said the mare lacked the same profile as previous Japanese raiders such as Admire Rakti and Mer De Glace who are Caulfield Cup winners.

“She’s probably not as proven as the other Japanese horses that have come over here in the last few years,” Tanaka said. “I think she’s the right candidate as she’s really lightly handicapped and her form is suited to racing in Australia.”

But he said she was well-weighted on 118lb.

Hong Kong-based Andrea Atzeni has been booked to ride the highly-rated Meydaan who has been placed second and third in his past two starts at Group 3 level at 2398m and 2399m in England.

Leading trainers Chris Waller and Ciaron Maher have seven runners in the 18-horse field.

Maher, who trained last year’s Caulfield Cup winner Duke De Sessa, will saddle Middle Earth, Zardozi and Royal Supremacy, while Waller has Land Legend, River Of Stars, Birdman and Valiant King.

Irish-born Robbie Dolan, who rode last year’s Melbourne Cup long shot winner Knight’s Choice, has been booked to ride Royal Supremacy who drew barrier six.