Trainer Steve O'Dea is banking on a significant drop in weight to offset a class rise for Soul Crusade at Doomben on Saturday.

Soul Crusade was beaten as favourite at Ipswich on October 7 but O'Dea believes the seven-year-old struggled to cope with the burden of carrying topweight of 58kg.

"I thought dropping him back in grade at Ipswich was the right thing to do but the weight took its toll on him," O'Dea said.

"Since I've trained him he's always been a horse that has won races by sneaking in with a light weight and I'm hoping that'll be the case again on Saturday."

O'Dea has engaged apprentice Priscilla Schmidt whose two kilo claim will reduce Soul Crusade's weight to only 52kg in the QCV Mining Accommodation Handicap (2200m).

Schmidt has ridden Soul Crusade three times previously including a win in April over the same track and distance as Saturday's race.

Soul Crusade will be Schmidt's first metropolitan ride since she injured her back in the barriers before the start of a race at Coffs Harbour in July.

Deagon trainer Darren Bell isn't committed to starting Falino in the Smart Stayzzz Inns Handicap (1600m) after the gelding drew the outside alley in the 11-horse field.

"I'm keen to run him at a mile but we could've done with a better draw," Bell said.

"There's not many options for the class of horse he is and we don't really want to come back in distance with him.

"We could wait a fortnight for a 1350 metre race but I'm pretty keen to keep going up in distance now so we've got a decision to make on whether to run him."

Falino won his first race in more than two years when he scored narrowly at Doomben on October 5.

The gelding spent more than a year on the sidelines following a throat operation to correct a breathing problem and Bell believes his last start win was a timely confidence boost.