Powerful owner Nick Williams believes European contenders Kirklees and Cima De Triomphe are false favourites for Saturday's $2.5 million Caulfield Cup.
Williams - son of leviathan owner Lloyd Williams - believes this year's 2400 metre Group One race is as open as any Caulfield Cup in memory with virtually every horse in the 18 strong field having a genuine chance.
"I think the barrier draw has thrown the race absolutely wide open," Williams, who will be represented by C'est La Guerre on Saturday, said of this year's Caulfield Cup.
"The bookies have installed the imported horses as favourites purely out of fear more than anything because obviously they haven’t got the exposed form here so it's hard to draw a line through them."
Kirklees, the $8 favourite with Victoria's TAB Sportsbet, is from the world's most powerful stable Godolphin which supplied last year's winner All The Good while equal $8.50 second favourite Cima De Triomphe is from the same Luca Cumani stable that has supplied the past two Melbourne Cup runner-ups in Purple Moon and Bauer.
"But neither them nor us really know where those horses are in terms of how they are going to perform here and if you take those two out of the betting it's 10 or 12-1 the field so it's probably the most open Caulfield Cup we have seen for a long time," Williams said on Thursday.
"I was looking through the field last night and it was terrifying me because you could make a case for anything so you would hate to be a punter, wouldn't you."
While Kirklees comes to Australia with far superior form to last year's Godolphin winner All The Good - having won his past four starts (three in England and one in Dubai) - those wins have been achieved in the kind of small fields that will be a far cry from the hustle and bustle of Australia's second greatest staying race on Saturday.
But jockey Kerrin McEvoy, who is aiming for back-to-back Caulfield Cup wins, said Kirklees - who has drawn perfectly in barrier seven - also had the early speed and ability to race forward that is usually considered crucial to success in the Caulfield Cup.
"The majority of his wins he has been sitting handy to the pace," McEvoy said of Kirklees on Thursday.
"A couple of wins were only in small fields but they were still nice solid wins and he has good form lines through those wins in the UK."
"He has won all four races this season - three in England and one in Dubai - and for an English stayer he can begin quickly and get into a forward position which hopefully he does on Saturday as well."
And unlike Cima De Triomphe - who has failed in both runs at 2400 metres - Kirklees does have a win over 2400 metres to his credit in his last start at Kempton in England on September 5.
On that occasion the six-year-old stallion carried 61.5kg meaning he drops 5.5kg to 56kg for Saturday's Caulfield Cup but he also faces a far bigger field after defeating just nine rivals at Kempton.
As for Cima De Triomphe, stable foreman Charlie Henson dismissed any concerns about the five-year-old's ability to run 2400 metres on Saturday.
"We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t think he would stay a mile and a half