THE EARLY BIRD CATCHES THE WORM

It’s an early start to beat the heat but we have two good chances at Caulfield on Wednesday.

Wham and Iowa Hawkeye are our runners, Wham (pictured) the first to go in race three, the Three-Year-Old Benchmark 64 Handicap over 1440m with Michael Poy riding and drawn barrier one in a field of 11.

The son of Fiorente resumed with a fourth place finish at Sandown last month and has done well since according to Mike Moroney.

“He’s trained on nicely and looks nice and bright,” Moroney said.

“He’s drawn barrier one which might make things a little bit awkward but we’ve claimed to reduce his weight and I think he’s a great winning chance.

“He just peaked on his run first-up and he’s fitter here in what does not look a harder race so I’m expecting him to be hard to beat.”

Iowa Hawkeye is in race seven, the Benchmark 64 Handicap over 1800m with Michael Poy reducing his weight to 56.5kg.

The son of Lope De Vega is bursting to win a race following placings at Sandown at his last two starts.

“It’s a similar looking field to his last start so we’ve used Michael Poy to take advantage of his claim and give he horse a bit of help,” Moroney said.

“Ideally he can sit just behind the leaders, the rail is out a bit and our horse is in good form, has trained on well and it looks a winnable race so with average luck in the run I’m expecting him to be hard to beat.”