The father-and-son training partnership of Tony and Calvin McEvoy are fully aware of the challenge ahead as Half Yours aims for a consecutive Caulfield Cup victory.

Half Yours, having carried one of the lightest weights when victorious in last year’s Cup, will now bear the topweight in Saturday’s 150th running of the renowned 2400m handicap.

The historical success of horses carrying topweights in the Caulfield Cup provides Calvin McEvoy with confidence that Half Yours can again be a contender this Saturday.

This Saturday, Half Yours progresses from 52.5kg to 57.5kg, after having also triumphed in the Melbourne Cup with 53kg last year.

“The history of the Caulfield Cup shows that it can be won by a topweight and that gives us confidence,” McEvoy said.

“Comparing that to the Melbourne Cup, it is a much more difficult task, but at the end of the day we have an elite stayer that is great at 2400 and 3200 metres.

“If we’re too scared to run with big weights, we’ll be leaving him at home in the box.

“We have to attack the challenge head on, and we have good faith in the horse that he can do it.”

Despite not crossing the line first in his six starts since last year’s Melbourne Cup win, Half Yours has impressed his trainers with his efforts.

His most recent outing saw him finish 6-½ lengths behind the winner in a fiercely run Turnbull Stakes (2000m), a race that proved too demanding for many other competitors.

However, this effort served to prepare Half Yours, and a training gallop during the week should have the stayer primed for Saturday.

“It was a pass mark last start,” McEvoy said.

“It was brutally run and he was second-up.

“I don’t think any of us trainers that have been training our horses to peak on Saturday saw that tempo coming and it brought a few unstuck.

“The main thing about those hard contests is it’s not how the run affected them but on how your horses come through them.

“He’s bounced through it and derived a lot of benefit along with another good strong gallop.”

While Jamie Melham partnered Half Yours to his Cup double last year, he is currently in Sydney to compete in The Everest.

Mark Zahra will now take the reins, and importantly, Half Yours has secured a favourable barrier draw.

“It takes a lot of the guess work out of it,” McEvoy said.

“In these high-pressure big handicaps, drawing wide dictates what you have to do.

“We were lucky last year in that he drew very well in the Caulfield Cup and the Melbourne Cup, and he has been unlucky since then drawing, although a few small fields, the outside which has dictated our plans.

“The draw will allow Mark Zahra to switch him off, conserve his energy, which is an asset that he has, and all stayers have, and then get the luck at the right time.

“Mark galloped him on the course-proper at Flemington on Tuesday morning and really liked him.

“He’s a lovely horse and he is easy to like.”

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