Veteran stayer Who Shot Thebarman will be on trial for a fourth Melbourne Cup start when he runs in Saturday’s Moonee Valley Gold Cup.

The 10-year-old failed to handle the heavy conditions when only ninth in the G3 Craven Plate (2000m) at Randwick on October 13.

Waller said Who Shot Thebarman, the winner of 11 of his 54 starts and $4.1 million prizemoney, surprised him when he failed to handle the heavy going in the Craven Plate.

"He's won on heavy tracks before but he wasn't at home at all in the going in the Craven Plate,” Waller said.

"We made sure he came through the race well and at this stage it looks like he has.

“We'll head to the Moonee Valley Gold Cup and that will decide whether he progresses to the Melbourne Cup.”

Who Shot Thebarman is following a tried and tested path to the Melbourne Cup as he has used the Moonee Valey Cup as his lead up to the Melbourne Cup for the last two years.

In 2016 he finished second to stablemate Grand Marshal carrying 57kg and last year went one better when he beat another stablemate Libran carrying 55kg.

Unfortunately Who ShotThebarman was denied a start in last year’s Melbourne Cup when he was scratched due to a high temperature.

In his previous Melbourne Cup starts Who Shot Thebarman finished third in 2014, 11th in 2015 and fifth in 2016.

Who Shot Thebarman won this year’s Sydney Cup at Randwick in April at his fifth attempt after his previous starts in that G1 race saw him finish ninth in 2014, second in 2015, fourth in 2016 and second again in 2017.

His only other start over 3200m saw him win the Auckland Cup in 2014 when he was trained in New Zealand by Mark Oulaghan.

He was transferred from his Kiwi trainer Mark Oulaghan to the Waller stable in Sydney after he ran in his first Sydney Cup in 2014.