Connections of Western Australian star Marasco are far from confident the galloper can win Saturday's G1 Railway Stakes at Ascot.
Trainer Fred Kersley and jockey Will Pike have both expressed doubts whether Marasco, with 57.5kg, can become only the third top weight in the past 20 years to win the Railway.
Kersley said Marasco, the third favourite at $6.50, could 'fluke' a victory while Pike said his mount needed a 'fair share of luck'.
Making the six-year-old's task more difficult was the quality of the field, which some - including Kersley - rate as being the best seen in the Railway for many years.
Marasco's wide draw (gate 14) was also a hindrance, Kersley said.
"I guess he'll be out of the early heat, if there's any buffeting or chopping and changing early, I think from 14 he'll miss all of that," he said.
"In saying that, he'll probably be travelling wide as well."
Kersley said the Railway Stakes was important for Marasco, which the trainer believed had been unfairly compared to his former champion galloper Northerly.
Northerly won nine Group One races, including two Cox Plates, and finished his career third on Australia's all-time money list with more than $9.34 million in stakes earnings.
"He's suffered a bit because he's come along after Northerly and the expectation was that he'd be another Northerly," Kersley said.
"The more I tried to hose it down the more people thought I was having a lend of them."
"He isn't another Northerly. He doesn't have the durability or the versatility of Northerly. But he's done a great job to win 13 of his race starts."
"This is a very important race on the racing calendar and if he was to fluke winning it we'd be over the moon."
Gilded Venom's jockey Patrick Carbery said the five-year-old, rated as WA's second best winning hope, had performed well above expectations this campaign and would again run well in the Railway.
"Last start in the Peters he didn't have any favours, he was caught wide and had a pretty hard run but to his credit he stuck to his guns strong and was only done on the line," he said.
Jockey Brad Rawiller said Niconero had drawn ideally as trainer David Hayes looks to win his first Group One race of the season.
"From barrier eight you can let him come out, let him come into his rhythm and you know you're going to finish strong and have him trying hard," he said.
Melbourne trainer Peter Moody said likely frontrunner Annenkov, an $18 chance, had lost 45kg since running eighth in last year's Caulfield Cup which had improved both his soundness and conditioning.
"His work has continued to improve throughout the preparation and I really put it down to a renewed training regime. I've never trained a horse this severe in my life," he said.
Moody will apply the blinkers on Pillar Of Hercules, whose best win to date was over 2000m, in a bid to sharpen him up for the Railway.
"To me he's racing like a mile-and-a-quarter horse again, I'm just looking at the blinkers to give him a turn of foot," he said.