David Hayes has stopped short of declaring his best chance to win a second Melbourne Cup but says he wouldn't swap Criterion and Almoonqith with any other horses in the $6 million race.

"They've had wonderful preparations, they are sound and they look like they've trained on," Hayes, who prepared Jeune to win the Cup in 1994, said.

"We're quietly confident we're going to be pretty close."

Both Criterion and Almoonqith came up with nice barrier draws in the 24-horse field in gates four and 10 respectively.

Hayes, who now trains in partnership with his nephew Tom Dabernig, was reluctant to split the pair.

"I really don't know, because Criterion is unknown at the distance and Almoonqith is thriving," he said.

"If I was against Almoonqith I'd be very worried about him, with the way he won at Geelong."

Criterion has proved himself as a weight-for-age star in Australia with wins this year in the $4 million Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) and the Group One Caulfield Stakes (2000m) either side of a three-run international campaign.

He finished second to Winx in the Cox Plate, while Almoonqith emerged as a Melbourne Cup contender with a strong Geelong Cup win last start.

Hayes says Criterion has a "good horse's weight" with 57.5kg so an ideal barrier was welcome.

And he said the emphasis during the horse's English summer sojourn was to train stamina into the 2014 Australian Derby winner, which he hopes pays off on Tuesday.

"With that weight, with the query at the distance, he needs a cushy run," Hayes said.

"He's a weight-for-age horse that relaxes so he'll get a beautiful run now and Michael (Walker) has just got to time his run and he'll present at some stage, you know he'll be there."

And if it rains, Hayes' confidence in Criterion would soar.

"He's as good a wet tracker as I've ever trained," he said.