Shuffle The Cash goes into the Grafton Cup today as one of the leading chances and his recent form suggests he’ll be very hard to beat.

He comes in off a last start second by a nose to Ironstein in the Tattersall’s Cup at Eagle Farm.

Before that he was a gallant fifth in the Brisbane Cup and three runs ago he won the Premier’s Cup at Doomben.

The six year old is arguably in career best form this preparation and there’s no doubt he’s racing with plenty of consistency.

So far in his career he’s run 46 times for ten race victories and fifteen minor placings.

On paper he’ll be surging at them late in the Grafton Cup however there’s plenty of pressure on trainer Bryan Guy.

Shuffle The Cash has been up since December last year so at any time he could signal that he’s had enough.

He has enjoyed a couple of weeks off since his last start though and the 2350m will suit him well.

Given the task of steering him to victory today is jockey Michael Rodd who was at one time a stable rider for Guy.

In fact he rode his first ever winner on one of Guy’s horses back in July of 2000 when Tornato Lass got up.

The Grafton Cup isn’t new to him either, he won it four years ago with Pacific Dancer.

Having said that he hasn’t returned to Grafton since that win, unsurprising when you consider he’s been winning big Group 1’s like the Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup.

It does hold a special place for him though and he didn’t waste any time getting back into form yesterday with a double on Snip It Fast and Flaming Circle.

“It definitely holds special memories for me. I rode my first winner here and also won the Grafton Cup,” Rodd said.

“It’s a nice little track to ride.”

It’s a good sight to see the pair reunited under these circumstance, their split didn’t occur on level ground.

“This is my first ride back for him, so it would be nice to get the cup for him,” he said.

“We patched everything up and hopefully the horse can run well.”

Despite a bit of unsavoury history Rodd gives plenty of credit to Guy who he says got him to where he is today.

“Without him I wouldn’t have got to where I did so quickly,” he said.

“He taught me the right way and not many bosses these days sit down with the kids and go through the videos – they just don’t have the time.

“It would be awesome to win and would be a nice little fairytale, but you have to earn it.”