INTERNATIONAL stars Kirklees and Cima De Triomphe retained favouritism for tomorrow's $2.5 million Caulfield Cup with TAB Sportsbet last night, but Melbourne bookmaker Michael Eskander said he would be letting punters on the two travellers for as much as they wanted, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.It says: TAB Sportsbet's Glenn Munsie said Cima De Triomphe and Kirklees were solid at $8 ahead of equal third picks Daffodil and Predatory Pricer at $9. However, Eskander, who has the Betstar bookm

INTERNATIONAL stars Kirklees and Cima De Triomphe retained favouritism for tomorrow's $2.5 million Caulfield Cup with TAB Sportsbet last night, but Melbourne bookmaker Michael Eskander said he would be letting punters on the two travellers for as much as they wanted, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

It says: TAB Sportsbet's Glenn Munsie said Cima De Triomphe and Kirklees were solid at $8 ahead of equal third picks Daffodil and Predatory Pricer at $9. However, Eskander, who has the Betstar bookmaking business with his son Alan, said he believed the two at the top of the TAB market were under the odds.

''Just have a look at the figures - punters always come for them and most of them get beaten,'' Eskander said. ''They're a perfect lay. They've come halfway around the world and they're competing on surfaces that are foreign to them and in a style of racing that is far more hectic than they are used to.''

Eskander had Cima De Triomphe a $7 favourite for the Cup last night, with Kirklees the $9 second elect. But he said that during the past 15 years bookmakers were in front of punters who had backed the internationals to win the Caulfield Cup.

''You get waves of stories about how good they are and that momentum builds up to a flood of money and so often it goes down the drain,'' Eskander said. ''Sure, there's been the odd time that they've been successful, but largely they've been a gift to bookmakers. You'll find that the two overseas horses to win Caulfield Cups [All The Good at $41 in 2008 and Taufan's Melody at $67 in 1998] proved to be skinners starting at huge odds and giving us the best Caulfield Cup result in decades.

''They come often with an unwarranted boom, with connections having unreal expectations about what they are going to achieve in Australia. I know they add another dimension to the race but, as far as gambling on them, you've got to take them on every time.''