CAULFIELD trainer Luke Oliver will be hoping he can snap a lean patch when he takes five runners to Pakenham Synthetic on Tuesday afternoon.

Oliver has endured a lean month with his last winner on July 20 but has some strong chances, including Chris Vernuccio’s best bet for the meeting, Key To The Mak.

BEST BET
KEY TO THE MAK (Race 2 No. 2)

The four-year-old mare was only beaten half a length on debut at Geelong Synthetic despite the market showing little interest in her. The winner of that race was then competitive in a midweek race at Sandown.

NEXT BEST
FINAL CHOICE (Race 3 No. 8)

Three-year-old filly having her first start since she finished fifth in the Maribyrnong Plate last spring. She’s taking on the older horses but trusting Team Hayes has found a winnable race for her.

MRS O’MALLEY (Race 4 No. 11)

Had little luck on debut at Geelong Synthetic when heavily supported. She got too far back but ran the fastest last 200m of the meet. Will be better over 1200m.

TRAINER WATCH
Caulfield trainer LUKE OLIVER accepted with eight runners but has decided to take five of those to Pakenham Synthetic.

Oliver has had a lean month with his last winner on July 20 but he has two strong chances in KEY TO THE MAK and GUESS AGAIN (Race 6, No. 6).

In a potential pointer for punters, Oliver elected to scratch Unshackled from the same race as Guess Again.

His other runners are WALTONIA (Race 1, No. 4), CALLISTO MOON (Race 8, No. 3) and REIGNING IN PARIS (Race 8, No. 6).

JOCKEY WATCH
PATRICK MALONEY has picked up two extra rides on Enver Jusufovic’s pair MRS O’MALLEY and CHARLIE ROAD (Race 7, No. 5). Both are winning hopes.

Maloney also rides MIDORIYAMA (Race 2, No. 5) and ALLAGERI (Race 3, No. 1), both for trainer Robbie Laing.