Trainer Ciaron Maher has a quartet of stayers engaged in the Zipping Classic as he bids to win the race for a second time.
Maher teamed with David Eustace to win the 2400m Group 2 race with Southern France in 2019 when the race was run at Sandown.
The last three runnings have been at Caulfield with Sound, Vow And Declare and Military Vintage being successful.
Smokin’ Romans, Le Don Die Vie, Herman Hesse and Mankayan will be out to put their name on the Zipping Classic honour board on Saturday.
Assistant trainer Jack Turnbull said all four horses enter the race fit with weather conditions, especially with Le Don De Vie, expected to play a big role in their chances.
Smokin’ Romans has remained at Maher’s Cranbourne complex since winning the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2600m) at Flemington on November 9.
The gelding had been trained from the stable’s rural property at Fingal, but Turnbull said it was decided the mix things up with the gelding.
“He won the Turnbull Stakes out of Fingal and we repeated that process of taking him back to Fingal for the bulk of this prep,” Turnbull said.
“But like we do with most of our locations, once they get to a point and we feel that they need a bit of a change of scenery, then we can shift them into Cranbourne or Ballarat, or wherever.
“That’s the beauty of our setup, and it worked leading into the Queen Elizabeth.”
Turnbull said Smokin’ Romans had not needed any fast gallops to retain his fitness, just keeping his mind fresh for Saturday’s race.
“There is very good access to grass there and you can go schooling, you can go out the middle, out the back in the sand trails,” Turnbull said.
“He’s done some schooling over the logs. We haven’t sent him up the lane yet, that could be in the future, but for the moment, he’s on the straight and narrow.”
Turnbull said he would not mind seeing the forecast rain fall at Caulfield on Saturday which would greatly enhance the hopes of Le Don De Vie.
The Bureau Of Meteorology is predicting 2-15mm of rain.
“When he ran the Bendigo Cup the track that day was good ground,” Turnbull said.
“With the forecast, hopefully we do attract that rain, and he will come into his own if it’s wet.
“It was only 12 months ago that he just got beaten in The Metropolitan on a bog track and we feel as though the horse is going well, he just needs the conditions.”
Herman Hesse has been racing in good form and after campaigning in Melbourne during the Carnival, he was sent north to Newcastle for his latest outing, finishing a close second.
“We can’t fault him, he’s fit, he travels, he’s gone up and back and he’s another one like Smokey, once they’re fit, we don’t gallop them,” Turnbull said.
“He’s a hard-going horse that can overdo it daily if allowed, so his work rider, Fergus, does a good job with him.”
Mankayan will be fourth up on Saturday and Turnbull said the gelding was getting out to a suitable distance.
“He ran well here a couple back here when he ran fourth, but I think he now is just getting to that trip, which he needs,” Turnbull said.
“If he can break away and roll forward, that’s when he runs his best races, but it’s a matter of if he can do that.”
