Polarisation back on song for Sydney Cup

Visiting Godolphin stayer Polarisation bounced back from the superficial injury to his off-hind leg to impress in his final piece of work for the G1 Sydney Cup.

In a brief interval between heavy showers at Canterbury racecourse early Tuesday, Charlie Appleby-trained Polarisation finished upsides stablemate Penglai Pavilion as the pair completed a solid workout over 1,600m, coming home strongly the last 600m.

James Ferguson, aboard Polarisation, was encouraged the way the gelding moved, while Mikey Ennis, who partnered Penglai Pavilion, also reported his mount to be in top form.

Both riders said the ground at Canterbury had been riding Soft to Heavy.

There had been concern in the Godolphin camp at the weekend after Polarisation suffered the injury as a result of apparently being cast in his box overnight last Friday.

"We have been icing the leg, working on it constantly, and you wouldn't know where it (the injury) was now. It looks like he banged the leg trying to roll over," Ferguson said.

"I'm very happy with him. It's all systems go. In that ground, we weren't wanting to do too much," he added.

Kerrin McEvoy will ride Penglai Pavilion (drawn 6), while Corey Brown takes the mount on Polarisation. A total of 14 face the starter for the $2m staying contest, one of the features of Day 2 of The Championships at Randwick.

Both McEvoy and Brown have been to Canterbury separately to sit on their respective Sydney Cup rides in the past two weeks.

Big Duke, trained by Darren Weir, remains the favourite.