John O'Shea is very confident Racing To Win is the right horse to win the Cox Plate at Moonee Valley on Saturday despite declaring it an extremely strong race this year.

O'Shea said the Encosta De Lago four-year-old was the ideal weight-for-age horse.

"He has the will to win, he's a very adaptable horse in a race, he takes up a position in a race and has a good turn of foot and doesn't make mistakes," he said.

The four-time Group One winner had made significant improvement since his workouts at Moonee Valley last Saturday and Tuesday according to the Randwick trainer.

"He is on an upward spiral which is the way I want him to go into the race," O'Shea said.

"I'm very confident because I know that when this horse is right he doesn't run a bad race.

"I think he's going to get the right run in the race. There are not many things he doesn't adapt to. If he's running fifth or sixth one off the fence come the half-mile (800m) I'll be very confident.

"When you know your horse is spot-on, that's where the confidence comes from."

Racing To Win has taken over as favourite at $3.30 with TAB Sportsbet from El Segundo, now at $3.80, after they were equal top picks at $3.50 earlier in the week.

O'Shea maintains a healthy respect for rivals El Segundo and Pompeii Ruler ($15).

"Everyone knows El Segundo is a serious racehorse. You only have to look at his record and the times he runs," he said.

"I'm under no illusions as to how strong this race is. I think it is one of the strongest Cox Plates because you have got horses who are on their way up in their careers, four-year-olds such as Pompeii Ruler and Racing To Win.

"I think it is an extremely strong Cox Plate."

Racing To Win hasn't raced at the Valley or over the 2040m trip, but O'Shea is not perturbed.

"I'm not worried about the circuit. He'll handle it, he's a pretty tractable horse," he said.

"And I'm not worried about the distance either. He's a strong Randwick miler and strong Randwick milers always have had a good record in Cox Plates."

Dual Doncaster winner Sunline, who won successive Cox Plates in 1999 and 2000, the latter by seven lengths, and Super Impose, who won two Doncasters and two Epsoms before winning the 1992 Cox Plate as an eight-year-old, add weight to O'Shea's theory that it takes a strong 2000m horse to win a Randwick 1600m feature.

Racing To Win goes into the race having won both the Doncaster and the Epsom this year.

Glen Boss is confident he can make it back-to-back Cox Plates after winning last year on Makybe Diva, according to O'Shea.

"Glen is a big-stage rider who will ride him well. He is confident because he knows the horse is ready," O'Shea said.

Meanwhile, star international jockey Kieren Fallon had a busy morning, riding at the Cranbourne barrier trials for Lee Freedman before going to Moonee Valley for a press conference ahead of riding Caulfield Cup runner-up Aqua D'Amore in the Cox Plate.

Fallon then walked the track with four-time Cox Plate-winning jockey Brent Thomson and Coolmore's Colm Santry and Michael Kirwan.

Thomson likened the track to the Chester circuit in England, while Fallon was very impressed.

"It's fantastic, beautiful, much better than Chester," he said.

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