Damien Oliver has defended his Caulfield Cup ride on the Luca Cumani-trained Mad Rush after England-based trainer Jane Chapple-Hyam criticised his performance, saying he would have won had he got out a little earlier.Mad Rush finished a two-length fourth to the Godolphin-owned All The Good after coming from near last on straightening with a run through the field towards the inside."I couldn't jump over them and there wasn't much else I could do," Oliver told a corporate breakfast crowd at Flemin

Damien Oliver has defended his Caulfield Cup ride on the Luca Cumani-trained Mad Rush after England-based trainer Jane Chapple-Hyam criticised his performance, saying he would have won had he got out a little earlier.

Mad Rush finished a two-length fourth to the Godolphin-owned All The Good after coming from near last on straightening with a run through the field towards the inside.

"I couldn't jump over them and there wasn't much else I could do," Oliver told a corporate breakfast crowd at Flemington during trackwork on Tuesday morning.

Oliver explained that Mad Rush was a pony size-wise compared to Nom Du Jeu who was on his outside and swept home out wide from the back of the field to run second.

"I started to get clear runs on straightening and he finished really well and you would expect him to as I hadn't spent a penny for probably 1800 metres so he only had to get home the last 600 metres, so if he didn't get home hard I would have been disappointed," Oliver said.

"If I'd been able to get him to the outside I have no doubt he would have given All The Good a run for his money."

Oliver said he was happy to be on Mad Rush in preference to stablemate Bauer who he rode to victory in the Geelong Cup (2400m) last Wednesday.

"I think the Caulfield Cup form will be definitely stronger than the Geelong Cup," he said.

However he did not dismiss Bauer, to be ridden by Corey Brown, as a lightweight hope on his strong Geelong Cup victory when he raced three-wide after jumping from barrier 15.

"I rode him like an English jockey. I wanted to make him feel at home," Oliver quipped.

Cumani decided to keep Mad Rush at his Sandown base rather than float him to Flemington for a gallop as he did on this day 12 months ago with last year's Cup runner-up Purple Moon.