And there are a few key overseas prospects in action at Caulfield – all of them horses you’re going to want to keep an eye on. You’ll have to wait another week before you get your first chance to see red-hot Japanese imports Bande and Admire Rakti in action, but this weekend offers a good look at the crop of horses from the Northern Hemisphere who will be contesting this year’s Melbourne Spring Festival. Look out for German stayers Protectionist and Nuntius in the Herbert Power Stakes, which is over 2400m, and also for a couple of English raiders in the same race: Van Percy and Renew have both had their fair share of media attention in the build-up, and all four are chances to take the win. Elsewhere, the Caulfield Stakes could feature Side Glance, fresh from a win in the Mackinnon Stakes, and there could be a chance to see Marco Botti-trained Guest of Honour in the Toorak Handicap.

Obviously, we’ve got all the Racing odds you’ll need to get yourself ready for a busy weekend, and we’ll be back with all the news and views after the weekend, which is shaping up to be a good first chance to size up the strength of the European contingent in the 2014 Melbourne Spring…

That’s right: Rich Enuff is the favourite for the Caulfield Guineas, and Tony Gollan and the rest of the team behind Looks Like The Cat could be forgiven for being sick of the sight of him. But Gollan sounds like he’s relishing the challenge, as well, especially since there will be an extra couple of hundred metres of turf to cover in the Caulfield Guineas, which will play in the favour of Looks Like The Cat: ‘put it this way, from what I saw on Sunday I am very glad there is an extra 200m in the Guineas. Rich Enuff is a very, very good horse. But they are all beatable. You will get a different sort of race in the Guineas with different horses and three different form lines all converging. You have got the Stutt Stakes from Moonee Valley last Friday night with Almalad, you have got the Sydney three-year-olds coming through like Shooting To Win and then you have got the horses that have come through the Guineas Prelude. Rich Enuff will be up on speed again and Almalad will be the first horse challenging him to make it a tough mile and my horse hopefully will get a nice run through the field. I thought the prelude was going to be his trickiest race in Melbourne, it was his first go around Caulfield when the horse is getting ready for the mile. It was a race we were wanting to be competitive in but I was never as confident as what the market suggested that I should have been. It was also a bit of a bizarre day with those strong winds. Running into those winds affects horses all differently. Rich Enuff handled it quite well and he quickened and put paid to that field including my horse very easily.’

And that’s the danger for Gollan and Looks Like The Cat come the weekend and the Caulfield Guineas. Punters have been reluctant to back him heavily enough to make a real impact on the Racing odds, and it would be heartbreaking for Gollan, you’d think, if Looks Like The Cat has to follow Rich Enuff home for a third time in three races…

Not least amongst them Michael Rodd, who has had the ride on Rich Enuff in the Caulfield Guineas Prelude. There’s little question about Rich Enuff’s calibre, but there remains something of a question mark over his ability to handle the extra distance of the Caulfield Guineas, and not just to handle it, but to thrive over it, too. Here’s Rodd’s take on Rich Enuff: ‘my gut says he will run it out. You never really know until they do it obviously and he is so brilliant. But I think he will. He’s just so relaxed. I gave him a chance to fire up (in the Prelude). He did it tough from the outside gate, did some work, but he was still very strong to the line. The outside barrier didn’t bother him too much last start. What will be will be.’

So that’s what the man who will be riding Rich Enuff thinks about how the race will go – and there are lots and lots of punters out there who agree with him, clearly. Meanwhile, a check over the Racing odds shows that there might be great value in Chivalry at $15.00 if you’re prepared to risk it, and Gai Waterhouse is backing her own runner Almalad, who’s at odds of $7.50 as of right now…

But a certain Gai Waterhouse is on record this week saying that she thinks there’s an underrated contender in the 2014 Caulfield Guineas – her own runner Almalad. In fact, she thinks he should be the favourite by rights: ‘he reminds me of Juggler, another horse that never got the credit he deserved and he had four Group 1 wins. Almalad is already a Group 1 winner and he is in the Cox Plate for a reason – because I think he will win it. I don’t think the mile is his best trip. He is just an outstanding horse and when I look at him that is what I see. He is going to prove it (in the next couple of weeks). If he is the winner of the Guineas then people might wake up to just how good he is. If you look at Almalad’s form, he has won twice at mile and the horse [Brazen Beau] he beat in Brisbane came out and won easily on the weekend. The other horse [Looks Like The Cat] that ran the third has been going well too. He is just getting better and better and you will see that on Saturday.’

Is that the sort of tip that you can afford to ignore? There are plenty of punters who aren’t convinced by Waterhouse, but is it maybe worth having another glance at the Racing odds for the Caulfield Guineas by clicking that link there? If Waterhouse turns out to be right about Almalad, it could be there’s some money to be won backing him at odds of $7.00…

And the weight of punters’ interest is right behind Rich Enuff, too, even in spite of a less-than-ideal barrier draw. According to Sportsbet’s Christian Jantzen: ‘the wide barrier hasn’t stopped punters coming for Rich Enuff. He’s won his last three starts and they obviously think the 1600m of the Guineas isn’t going to pose a problem. Rich Enuff and Chivalry account for half the money wagered on the race.’

So look out for the favourite b>Rich Enuff to live up to some pretty big billing, but also take note of the popularity of Chivalry at $15.00. Between the two there’s Looks Like The Cat at odds of $5.50 – who could be a real chance to win the race, but who hasn’t seen the kind of backing that maybe many were expecting – Gai Waterhouse’s Almalad with odds of $7.00 by his name, and Shooting To Win, who’s a $7.50 bet on Sportsbet right now.

With just a few days to go before the Caulfield Guineas, we’ll be keeping a close eye on the Racing odds to see if they change and which way they go, but we’ll also be bringing you all the news as we hear it, so check back in with us when you can!

But don’t just take our word for it. Trainer Ken Keys was pretty happy after the win in the McKenzie Stakes at Moonee Valley in August, and we reckon he’s going to be even happier now, and sizing up the possibility of a Caulfield Guineas to remember: ‘I’ve been dreaming of this for a while. I think he can run a mile. He’s a half brother to Lightenuff – I’ve always said Flushed was my best horse. He could get there yet as he’s so immature at the moment. I thought plenty of him before his first start. We were expecting to win. It’s going to be nice to watch tonight. It’s looking good because I think he’ll run a mile. That’s what we are hoping.’ And Keys isn’t alone in his regard for Rich Enuff as a prospect – here’s what jockey Dwayne Dunn, who has ridden Rich Enuff in jump-outs, had to say about him: ‘he’s a serious horse. It’s a long way from the Guineas yet though. It was a big step forward than what I expected from him today. I thought he had done a bit of work early, and after two soft trials would be a question mark late. But he was solid as a rock.’

So you’re probably safe adding Rich Enuff to the list of great prospects for the 2014 Melbourne Spring, and he’s likely to feature in the Racing odds for the Caulfield Guineas if you’re looking at that race with any interest…

And he could well be sporting a dapper fashion accessory when he contests the Run To The Rose: a set of blinkers. He hasn’t been wearing them in recent work – and he wasn’t wearing them for any of his impressive wins to date – but there’s a bit of a feeling in the Almalad camp, apparently, that he wanted to race too much in the middle stages of the J.J. Atkins, and that the blinkers will help with that. The Run To The Rose is, we suppose, a better opportunity to test that theory than, say, the Cox Plate, which will be on the schedule for Almalad this Spring Season along with the Caulfield Guineas. It could be that the blinkers come off for those two races.

Either way, all eyes will be on Almalad when he contests the Run To The Rose at the weekend – we haven’t seen him trialling, and punters all around the world will want to see how he goes. We’ve got all the Racing odds for your to check through, and we’ll be watching along with you…

The Cox Plate is one of those few races in the Australian calendar that Gai Waterhouse hasn’t had a winner in – could there be a space left empty in the trophy cabinet? Either way, Almalad has shown plenty of promise, and will be very much in punters’ thoughts as we get closer to October and the Cox Plate. In the meantime, Almalad could well be putting in an appearance at both the Golden Rose Stakes and the Caulfield Guineas (and you can see odds for both those races by clicking the links). In Waterhouse’s own words: ‘I will set him for the Cox Plate. I think that any of those horses that raced through those Group races in the winter are certainly horses that could contest the top races in Sydney and Melbourne. Three-year-olds have an outstanding record in the Cox Plate, absolutely outstanding.’

And Almalad has a great run behind him in recent months – a brave win in the JJ Atkins in June after he was thrown in at the deep end for his first Group 1 race. That will have pleased Waterhouse no end, and it sounds like he has been in good shape since that win: ‘he has come back into work. He had a little let-up after that as all my Queensland horses did and he came back and he is really bouncing around Randwick. He is as fresh as a daisy and he is really going well.’ It’s been our habit to listen when Gai Waterhouse makes these predictions for her horses – could Almalad be her first Cox Plate winner? Check back for all the Racing odds and the news as we get it!

Starspangledbanner burst away mighty fast and led the whole way, with Manhattan Rain the only one getting close and ending up in second. Denman, my shout, everybody’s shout, pretty much, was unplaced and was stuck three-wide through the hole thing, so we can probably let him off.

However, it was a nice, mean satisfying feeling to see Whobegotyou win the Yalumba Stakes on Saturday, not just because he was my tip for the race, but because he showed me up earlier on this year.

Last month he out-raced El Segundo, my shout in the Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes, so he owed me big time and clearly felt guilty, starting at the back and edging ahead to break away and win it in the last 100. Jockey Damien Oliver also clocked up his 2000th win when he saved my blushes.

A mixed weekend again then but I’m fairly pleased with Whobegotyou. Saturday has nicely whetted my appetite for Wednesday’s Thousand Guineas as well, while of course we have the Caulfield Cup to deal with this Saturday.

The build-up machine has re-booted itself today, with much chatter over whether or not Speed Gifted, the current favourite, will actually appear. Trainer LeeFreedman has said he could be steered towards a Melbourne Cup attempt instead but the skies may decide it; the galloper tends to like the wet and the forecast for Saturday is rain so he may yet make it. We should find out tomorrow anyway.

Onwards, with cautious optimism and an umbrella.

I’m guessing that the last thing going through the mind of jockey Kerrin McEvoy as he stares at the Caulfield track between Denman’s ears is what the Pom de Turf is going to write on Monday morning if the pair of them have an off day.

For what it’s worth, I won’t be happy though. Form, tipping chatter and the bookies are all pointing towards the Peter Snowden-trained star and finding value might be your only problem today.

The last time I checked Betfair were among the few bookies prepared to offer you a little over the 2.70 to 2.80 mark for Denman. If your bowels are telling you not to follow the crowd then my personal recommendation would be Manhattan Rain, who has been knocking around a very tempting 6.50 to 7.00 all week and who is due a performance which truly fulfils his considerable potential.

By all accounts he has also looked truly sharp this week, with Gai Waterhouse declaring “it will be a great race on Saturday with the best colts in Australia coming together but I really believe I have the horse to win my first Caulfield Guineas”, so he’s your horse if you fancy living a little more dangerously, but I’m sticking my neck out with Denman.

Elsewhere today there’s plenty of adequate distraction from the Guineas in the shape of the Toorak Handicap and the Yalumba Stakes, among others. The latter could see a very tight contest between Heart Of Dreams and Whobegotyou, and simply because he did me earlier in the season I’m going with Whobegotyou. I feel like he owes me one.

Other than that my advice is simply this; relax and enjoy the thunder of hooves which means the best of the season’s group 1 racing has begun.