O'BRIEN UNFAZED BY CAMELOT DRAW

Russian Camelot temporarily lost his position as Cox Plate favourite after drawing barrier 15, but while the bookies believe the wide draw may have harmed his chances, trainer Danny O'Brien certainly does not.

Arcadia Queen ($4.80) usurped Russian O'Brien ($5) moments after the draw with Sportsbet, with Russian Camelot again reclaiming favourtism by late morning in a move that did not shock an unshakeable O'Brien.

"It can be the most overrated and silliest discussion in racing as how do you know what a bad barrier is," O'Brien quizzed.

"Vow And Declare won the Melbourne Cup from barrier 21 last year. It turned out to be a great advantage as we rolled forward and ended up giving ourselves a great chance to win the race.

"If we'd drawn barrier one, we probably wouldn't have rolled forward and we probably would have ended up running 10th.

"It's a weight-for-age race and Damien (Oliver) will ride the horse as he sees fit. He has the run to the first turn to assess where he wants to be.

"The horse is very adaptable. He's won outside the leader and he came from last to win the South Australian Derby.

"The most important thing is we are thrilled with the horse. He's going there in the best possible shape."

O'Brien said the strength of the opposition was more of a concern than the barrier.

"We know how difficult it will be as it's a very deep field with horses like Arcadia Queen, Kolding and the internationals, but he's there to run a great race," he said.

Russian Camelot did not gallop at The Valley's Breakfast with the Best on Tuesday as he completed his reconnaissance at the track last Saturday morning.

Story by Andrew Eddy for Racing.com

Pic by Racing Photos