And just like that, it's Cup Week. Derby Day kicks things off and while the make up of the opening day has changed over the years one thing remains – it's game on for punters.  

 

The evolution of Derby Day has been such that the Coolmore is now, for many, the standout race of the day – for some, holed up in the Hunter, perhaps even the week.

In September's gone by, pub chatter would spark from 'reckon he's a Derby horse', which may not have been replaced but is now certainly accompanied by 'gee, Coolmore horse that".  

The Coolmore is now the sequel to the Slipper – and it is more Godfather Part II than Speed 2…

That is to say that it is as good or better. Certainly since Sepoy (who won both) and Pierro the Coolmore has been better won than the Slipper, but that is not to say that the Slipper hasn't been both a pointer and a platform.

The first four from this year's Slipper go again in the Coolmore and the first three of them do so from the head of early betting.

That betting is headed by Cylinder and so it should be – his price bigger than it was in the Slipper but his case potentially stronger now despite defeat that day.

Cylinder scraped by in both the Vain and the Run To The Rose, unconvincing in both, but the job was done. The Golden Rose overall was no more convincing, but the Everest was – his fifth placed effort the best piece of form put up by his crop so far.

Shinzo lined Cylinder up and took him down in the Slipper but he has been behind him without threatening in his latest couple and prices between the pair are much the same now as they have always been.

The ratio of prices are also much the same now as they were on Slipper Day between Cylinder and King's Gambit – talented but as yet not as well performed as Cylinder and his Flemington run first up saw him concede fairly quickly; something Cylinder certainly didn't do in the Everest last time.

There is plenty more ground to cover in a race as deep as 20 but the formbook points to Cylinder and by enough to take prices around $3.50 currently being bet with the hope of better still.

No jockey has ridden more Cup Week winners than Damien Oliver - in fact, no jockey runs him close.

Ollie goes to his final Cup Week with 85 wins to his name – three Cups among those – and, to the joy of headline writers, if there is to be an 86th winner on the Derby Day card then it will most likely come in the race now named in his honour.

That is the last, the Damien Oliver, where the man of the moment rides Vilana, who is certainly a tempting option for these pages given his peaks are the best on offer, but a fairly underwhelming Queensland campaign leaves him with a bit of a point to prove and his return was just short of what was required to really warm to him.

He is passed over for now but Oliver isn't with one of his lesser chances fancied at a price.

Oliver may now have a race named after him but there are a few others that he could call his own. The Oaks is an obvious candidate given his record there, but he could also claim to be Mr Empire Rose having knocked in three winners over the journey and all at good prices – 12-1, 15-1 and 30-1.

Chances, unsurprisingly, run deep but the chance of Oliver's mount, More Secrets, appear slightly undersold at 30-1 and with the potential for bigger to be bet.

Form from the autumn equivalent, the Queen Of The Turf, is at the forefront of betting via Atishu and Hope In Your Heart but the third placed there, More Secrets, has been largely discarded.

The case against is clear. She was 100-1 and a way behind Atishu at Randwick - and she was well behind that one again in the Racing and Sports Golden Pendant (time honoured) at the start of this campaign.

So turning that around won't be easy, but her splits in both runs this time in have pointed to her both being in great order and having the potential to bring something to the table that she hasn't before.

The scenario on Saturday is a positive one, the sort that could unlock that potential, and, in a race where several can be backed, and plenty will be, it is advised that she be one of them.  

 

THE MELBOURNE MAIL 

Bet Of The Day: Flemington Race 6 #2 Cylinder @ $3.60

Each Way Play: Flemington Race 8 #16 More Secrets @ $31.00