It appears that Star Witness is ready to run the race of his life in the July Cup at Newmarket this weekend. Run in the early hours of Sunday morning, the July Cup (1200m) will be Star Witness' final appearance at the track before retiring to stud.

The former Blue Diamond winner has placed in the Golden Jubilee and Kings Stand over in the UK in his past couple of starts, however, some experts from that part of the world believe he could be ready to surpass those efforts. I'm told that that the three-year-old is looking spectacular and that he may have been feeling the effects of the difference in time zones at his first two outings.

Trainer Danny O'Brien allowed Star Witness to have a look at the Newmarket complex on Tuesday, with his trackwork finishing off with plenty of speed over the final five furlongs.

Cox Plate winning jockey, Steven Arnold, will take the ride on the son of Starcraft on the weekend. Victory in the July Cup would be a fitting finale for one of the best young horses to come out of Australia in recent seasons. A sensational winner of the Blue Diamond at two, one of his best efforts this season has come in defeat, running second to champion mare Black Caviar in the Patinack Farm Classic at Flemington back in the spring.

One thing on Star Witness' side is the fact Aussies have a great record in the UK, with Starspangledbanner taking out the feature last year and Scenic Blast, Takeover Target and Choisir performing with distinction previously.

TAB Sportsbet currently has Star Witness second favourite, behind Delegator, at $4.80.

The future of overseas raiders hoping to have a crack at the Melbourne Cup could be in jeopardy if press reports from earlier this week are accurate. Luca Cumani, who has come close twice to capturing the Cup in recent years with European invaders, has been quoted as saying that the current quarantine centre at Newmarket in the UK simply wasn't a viable option. He believed that the constant travel to and from the quarantine facility would be detrimental to his horses and that if a suitable alternative wasn't reached, then he wouldn't be considering a trip to Australia this spring. He had hoped to send up to five horses down under this spring in search of that elusive Cup success.

Outstanding trainer Chris Waller has a big team of horses stepping out to the trials at Rosehill today. Among them is Group One winner Pressday, which will have a gallop in the Open Trial over 1030m. The three-year-old scored his biggest career triumph just over 12 months ago during the Brisbane Winter Carnival, however, failed to reproduce that form in Sydney earlier this year. Waller has always had a good opinion of Pressday and it will be interesting to see how he performs in the jump out as he attempts to get back to the races.