Moudre will begin his Melbourne Cup campaign in the PB Lawrence Stakes

Moudre will begin his Melbourne Cup campaign in this Saturday’s PB Lawrence Stakes at Caulfield Racecourse after a five month spell.

The six-year-old gelding missed out on a Melbourne Cup start last year, however, won the Group 3 Queen’s Cup in November.

Trainer Ciaron Maher believes that Moudre has proved he is ready for a first-up run this weekend after performing well in two recent jump-outs.

“He went well, Craig (Williams) rode him but he didn’t have the blinkers on and I didn’t want him to have a hard trial,” Maher said.

“He’s had a good spell and is looking really good,” he said.

Moudre was unable to perform during his autumn campaign earlier this year, remaining unplaced throughout his three Melbourne runs.

Maher is confident that Moudre has the ability to beat last year’s Melbourne Cup winner Americain, who will be back again this year to defend his title.

Moudre finished second to Americain by a short half head in last year’s Geelong Cup, which gave the French entire automatic entry into the Melbourne Cup.

“He’s a good horse and he has form around Americain,” Maher said.

Moudre was unlucky in all of his attempted Melbourne Cup qualifying attempts, finishing fourth in both the Herbert Power Stakes and the Lexus Stakes.

The Blevic gelding has won seven of his 20 race starts and has won more than $410,000 in prize money.