Champion jockey Damien Oliver will put his trust in the world's blue-chip middle-distance form to counter any perceived physical impediment to El Bodegon winning the WS Cox Plate.
Despite having the nous of four-time Cox Plate-winning trainer Chris Waller in his corner, El Bodegon is rated an unknown factor in the race billed as Australia's weight-for-age championship.
But while built small in stature compared to most of his Cox Plate rivals, El Bodegon has landed in Australia with a sizeable reputation as a class racehorse with three wins and five placings in nine northern hemisphere appearances.
Since winning at racing's highest level at his fourth start as a two-year-old in the Group One Criterium De Saint-Cloud in France last year, El Bodegon has raced against nothing but elite European company.
The entire's record in 2022 includes a French Derby placing, a reference point that has Oliver bullish about El Bodegon making an instant impact on Australian racing.
Among Oliver's record of 127 Group One winners are two Cox Plate victories and he admits history says El Bodegon is unlikely to turn heads in the parade ring on Saturday.
"I suppose you are used to riding a bigger, stronger type of Cox Plate horse," Oliver said after getting off El Bodegon following a Breakfast With The Stars gallop on Tuesday.
"But you've only got to look at his form in the best races in Europe to know he's got very good Cox Plate credentials."
El Bodegon will be giving away experience and age but northern hemisphere three-year-olds have invariably delivered since the $5 million race became a realistic spring target for the age group less than a decade ago.
Irish raiders Adelaide (2014) and State Of Rest (2021) have upstaged Australia's weight-for-age stars and the Waller stable is counting on El Bodegon's nimble and athletic ways to help him continue the trend.
"It gives you a bit of confidence that three-year-olds can come down here and compete at the top level," Waller's assistant Charlie Duckworth said.
El Bodegon has continued to attract the most Cox Plate support since he cruised through a piece of trackwork at Moonee Valley.
He now sits on the third line of betting as a $7 chance behind last year's runner-up Anamoe ($2.50) and Zaaki ($4.40).
Anamoe plies his trade out of the Godolphin yard, a premier stable in world racing trying to break an exasperating run of Cox Plate placings.
Waller denied Godolphin three times during Winx's Cox Plate reign from 2015 to 2018 but the all-conquering trainer says Anamoe stands between him and a fifth success.
"Anamoe is the benchmark. He has been primed for the race and he ran so well last year," Waller said.
