Ciaron Maher will use Saturday’s $300,000 Pakenham Cup — and potentially the Group 2 Perth Cup in January — as the pathway for his tough stayer Dal Harraild towards a spot in next year’s Melbourne Cup.

Maher couldn’t be more pleased with Dal Harraild since his game second to The Taj Mahal in the 2400m Zipping Classic at Sandown last month, franking his opinion of the lightly raced former English galloper.

“The jockeys actually thought he won,” Maher said of the deceptively narrow margin.

“He hasn’t gone backwards since then. He has just ticked over at the beach and he had a nice hitout at Moonee Valley on Monday. He looks ready to go.”

Maher, who trains in partnership with David Eustace, is keen to give Dal Harraild a light autumn, potentially with two runs, before bringing the horse back in the spring for a crack at the Melbourne Cup.

“He has won over two-mile, he loves our firmer surfaces,’’ he said.

“He is a beautifully actioned horse. He is quite clean-winded and he seems to thrive down here with a bit of sun on his back.”

Dal Harraild’s owner, Andrew Stone, who has a number of horses trained at Newmarket, England, rejected a number of Australian offers for the horse, opting to keep racing him himself.

He could be making the trip to Australia for the Listed Pakenham Cup.

Maher and Eustace could have two runners in the 2500m race.

Wall Of Fire is also nominated for what would be his first run since running last in the Geelong Cup in October.

That horse would prefer some rain, and a softer surface, which seems unlikely at this stage.

“We’ll accept with him and have a look at the weather,” Maher said.

“He hasn’t hit form for a while, but he has been working well.”

Wall Of Fire worked at The Valley on Monday with recent stable addition Kilimanjaro, who will run in the 1600m David Bourke Memorial Handicap at Pakenham on Saturday.