Newcastle trainer Kris Lees hoped it rained more than forecast for Caulfield Cup rank outsiders Mustajeer and Raheen House, which will be on trial for a Melbourne Cup start on Saturday.
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Mustajeer ($81) and Raheen House ($151) were the longest-priced runners with TAB Fixed Odds on Friday for the $5 million Caulfield Cup (2400m).
A wet track will help their cause and rain was predicted at Caulfield, potentially pushing the track rating into the soft range but unlikely into the heavy.
Mustajeer was 1.8 lengths away sixth in the Caulfield Cup last year before finishing well back in the Melbourne Cup. He hit back in the autumn with victory in the listed Parramatta Cup and second to Caulfield Cup favourite Verry Elleegant in the group 1 Tancred.
However, he has failed to rediscover his form this time in with three unplaced runs. The eight-year-old remains 13th in the Melbourne Cup (3200m) order of entry but Lees said "he needs to run well" to continue on to the November 3 race.
"You just want him to run well and to think you're going to be competitive, otherwise it's not worth going on," Lees said. "It's an expensive exercise so he needs to be in form."
Raheen House, at 29th in the order, could also push on to the Melbourne Cup. Now seven, Raheen House won the Chairman's Handicap and was third in the Sydney Cup in the autumn, both on heavy tracks, but he has also been disappointing this preparation.
"He's probably better suited to two mile than he is at 2400, but he certainly wants some rain," Lees said.
"His work's been very good and it wouldn't surprise me, if we got a bit of moisture, for him to run a bold race."
Craig Kerry
Craig Kerry is a sports reporter for the Newcastle Herald.
Craig Kerry is a sports reporter for the Newcastle Herald.
