IN HORSE racing, there are some things that even the greatest of trainers cannot influence, such as barrier draws and the weather, reports The Age.It says: On that score, Bart Cummings's tilt at an eighth Caulfield Cup on Saturday was yesterday enhanced and reduced at the same time.At yesterday's barrier draw for the 133rd Caulfield Cup, Cummings's group 1-winning four-year-old mares came up with the ideal gates. VRC Oaks winner Faint Perfume drew seven and alongside her in gate eight was her Qu

IN HORSE racing, there are some things that even the greatest of trainers cannot influence, such as barrier draws and the weather, reports The Age.

It says: On that score, Bart Cummings's tilt at an eighth Caulfield Cup on Saturday was yesterday enhanced and reduced at the same time.

At yesterday's barrier draw for the 133rd Caulfield Cup, Cummings's group 1-winning four-year-old mares came up with the ideal gates. VRC Oaks winner Faint Perfume drew seven and alongside her in gate eight was her Queensland Derby-winning stablemate Dariana. ''They're stabled next to each other at home, so they'll be happy with that,'' the trainer's trusty Melbourne foreman Reg Fleming said. ''We wanted between gates five and 10 when we got here, so we'll take that.''

But if the barrier draw fell ideally for the stable, the weather threatens to all but rule out one of the mares. ''It won't worry Faint Perfume at all,'' Fleming said. ''She's won on a heavy track and we know she can get through it, while a number of horses might not. But for Dariana, the weather couldn't be much worse. She needs a flint-hard track and I don't think she can handle a track anything worse than dead, so we're facing a battle with her.''


Cummings arrives in Melbourne today to supervise his mares in the countdown to the $2.5 million handicap. He has not been in Melbourne since the first week of August, after fracturing his pelvis following a fall at his home in Sydney. Among many things, Cummings is famous for being able to make the most of the things he can control. On that score, Fleming said ''they're as good as we can get them''.

But factors such as barrier draws and weather mean little if the horse is not fit, healthy and happy. Up until this race, that cannot necessarily be said of Faint Perfume, who in three runs this spring has shown none of the brilliant sprint she showed last spring and autumn. But as fitness and health come under the heading of ''things that can be controlled'', few would doubt that Faint Perfume will not be presented in super order on Saturday.

Cummings has decided to add blinkers to her gear and Fleming confirmed yesterday that the excess weight the short but stout mare has been carrying in her lead-up runs is all but gone. ''She's really come on since her last run. It's taken a while to get her fit and the blinkers are going to really sharpen her up.''

Faint Perfume continued to firm in the Betstar market for the race as she came in a further three points yesterday to $10, while Dariana remained at $11.

www.theage.com.au