Caulfield Cup Tips - Turnbull Stakes form to hold up in the Caulfield Cup

A field of 18 are set to line up for the first of the Melbourne spring majors, while there are three emergencies. Plenty of unknowns with how the track will play as storms are forecast in the lead in so we could be on anything from Good to Heavy. 

The Turnbull Stakes (2000m) placegetters, Buckaroo, and Eliyass head the market, while the exacta horses from the Randwick Metropolitan (2400m), Land Legend and Zardozi, are also fancied. 

The last start Might And Power (2000m) winner, Deny Knowledge, might take up the running and will look to cross over from barrier 17 (or 14 after the removal of the emergencies). 

Eliyass is likely to race on speed with Muramasa, Berkshire Breeze, Young Werther and Fancy Man. Buckaroo, Zardozi and Circle Of Fire are among those that will settled back half. 

The Turnbull Stakes is always a solid guide for the Caulfield Cup and Buckaroo just missed out in a photo behind the Cox Plate (2040m)contender, Via Sistina. The Chris Waller-trained galloper went 13.4 lenghts faster than standard benchmark, which is the second best last start figure of any runner, behind the 16.1 lenghts that Deny Knowledge set last weekend on a track that seemed to suit those in the lead. She is a live chance with just the 50.5kg. But Buckaroo drops 3.5kg on his Turnbull run and does perform well on tracks with a bit of give, while the six-year-old draws to land in a nice spot with Joao Moreira to ride. 

I have been keen on Muramasa for a race like the Caulfield Cup since his performances in the spring carnival last year and the five-year-old looks to be somewhere back to his best after a couple of placings to kickstart his preparation. The Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young-trained galloper was runner-up behind Pericles two starts ago before going down in narrow fashion at Sandown over the 1800m behind Berkeley Square. A firmer since the barrier draw, he drops a whopping 9kg from that run. His most recent third up performance saw him go a very healthy 15.7 lenghts faster than standard when claiming the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2600m) at Flemington last year in dominant style.