The first question I am asked these days is whether Godolphin's two G1 Sydney Cup runners are as good as Qewy, Francis Of Assisi and Oceanographer, all of whom I won races on during the Melbourne Spring last year.

Frankly, it's difficult to compare them, mainly because I haven't really been able to test Penglai Pavilion (or Polarisation) at home. We were confined to routine work only when I rode him at Canterbury last week.

Last October and November, I was able to ride the main contenders quite a few times -- let them off the chain, so to speak -- so I had a better idea.

At face value, Penglai Pavilion feels a little bit more dour than, say, Francis Of Assisi, so we'll take that into account when we front up for the Cup on Saturday.

Another question I get asked a lot in Australia is whether I am worried that Penglai Pavilion is first-up over 3,200m, having not run since last October.

My answer: it doesn't worry me at all. You know these horses are going to have plenty of miles in their legs, despite not having raced for six months or more.

Charlie Appleby, John Ferguson and the team know how to get a horse ready first-up over long distances. They are experienced and know what they are doing.

I have to say that Penglai Pavilion pleased me with what he did at Canterbury last week (even if it was only routine stuff). He drops to a luxury weight of 52kg (8st 3lb) and we know he gets the trip strongly.

He looks as though he's a 'confidence horse' and we're going to use that nice big action of his. I'm sure he can run a good race on Saturday.

It's fantastic riding for His Highness Sheikh Mohammed and Godolphin again. It's a real honour to be pulling on those famous Royal Blue silks again, and hopefully we can do the team proud by winning one of the iconic races on the Australian Turf.

It was great to see those Godolphin horses winning for Charlie in Melbourne last year. It's really been beneficial for Sheikh Mohammed to bring some of his Northern Hemisphere-bred horses out to Australia to compete.

Kerrin McEvoy was retained by Godolphin in Europe more than a decade ago. Among many wins for the stable, he famously landed the 2004 Doncaster St Leger, racing's oldest Classic, on Rule Of Law. He later rode under contract to Darley in Australia.