Moriarty is taking winning form into the 2014 Caulfield Cup and trainer Chris Waller is confident that an ideal barrier draw will help the imported galloper settle closer to the speed than he did in the Group 1 event last year.
Moriarty is one of four Chris Waller-trained horses in the 2014 Caulfield Cup field. Photo by: Steve Hart
Moriarty was forced to settle at the tail of the field after he jumped from barrier 15 in the Group 1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) last year before he worked home strongly in the final stages to finish a credible tenth.
The Clodovil gelding will jump from barrier five in the Caulfield Cup tomorrow and Waller told Racing Ahead that jockey Michael Rodd should be able to settle Moriarty in the first half of the field in the early stages of the race.
“He beat Rising Romance on that occasion (In the Craven Plate) and she is one of the spruik horses,” Waller said.
“Like Hawkspur last year, he drew close to the outside and was last heading for home, but only got beaten by about three lengths.
“He has a better draw this year and should be able to take up a better position.”
Another Waller-trained horse that has strong 2014 Caulfield Cup lead-up form is progressive stayer Junoob.
Junoob finished second in a benchmark 84 race on Thousand Guineas Day twelve ago, but he has improved substantially in the past twelve months and is one of the form horse heading into the Caulfield Cup after he took out the Group 2 Hill Stakes (2000m) at Royal Randwick on September 20 and scored his maiden win at Group 1 level in The Metropolitan (2400m) at the same venue on October 4.
Waller could not be happier with the way that Junoob has performed at his past two starts, but he admits that the Haafhd gelding will need a fair bit of luck in running tomorrow after he was allocated barrier 15 at the 2014 Caulfield Cup barrier draw on Tuesday afternoon.
“He is very good,” Waller said.
“He is a remarkable horse; this time last year he was running around in restricted races and now he is a Group 1 winner and running in a Caulfield Cup.
“He has to take another step from winning The Metrop, it is a much stronger race, but all he can do is win.
“It was his fourth-up run, so he is fifth-up on Saturday and should be at his peak.
“It is an awkward gate, so we will have to see how he jumps and see how the first 100 metres unfolds.”
Junoob is available at 2014 Caulfield Cup odds of $12, while Moriarty is priced at a quote of $21.
