Kerrin McEvoy had a major selling point when he threw his hat into the ring for the Cox Plate ride on Happy Trails - his desire to join an elite list of jockeys to have won Australian racing's Grand Slam.

McEvoy, who rides the Paul Beshara-trained Happy Trails in the nation's premier weight-for-age event on Saturday, is striving to become just the eighth jockey to win a Melbourne Cup, Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate and Golden Slipper during his career.

"It's a real goal of mine now, obviously with three in the bag, and I said that to Paul (Beshara). I said `I'm going to be trying my guts out to try to win it'," McEvoy said.

"It would definitely be great to be able to join that club."

McEvoy said he weighed up his options before trying to get the mount on Happy Trails, winner of the Group Two Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes at Moonee Valley earlier in the spring.

"I looked at my options for the Cox Plate and with his formlines tied around Green Moon and being unable to get on a Pierro or whatnot, I rang up Paul and put my name forward," McEvoy said.

McEvoy's first success in one of the majors was his Melbourne Cup win as a 20-year-old on Brew in 2000.

He added the Caulfield Cup in 2008 aboard All The Good and won last year's Golden Slipper in Sydney on Sepoy.

A Cox Plate boilover would be a perfect belated birthday present for McEvoy who turned 32 on Wednesday.

"He's an outsider in the field but he does like the track. He's got to prove himself at the 2000 metres," McEvoy said.

"He obviously needs to have a softish time early to run the trip out but I went and rode the horse in work last week and was happy with the feeling he gave me."

Happy Trails won the Spring Stakes in Adelaide first-up before a second to Sincero in the Memsie Stakes.

He defeated Green Moon by a nose in the Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes (1600m) then finished fifth to Green Moon in the Turnbull Stakes (2000m).

McEvoy said the Cox Plate was shaping as an intriguing race.

"It's a tough race to win as everyone knows, and it's a great line up this year," he said.

"You can look at each runner and make a case for them so it's a really intriguing race, and a race that the whole racing world is looking forward to."