Ken Keys once narrowly failed to join the Group I club with a raging Caulfield Guineas favourite but reckons his $151 Guineas outsider can make an impact on Saturday.
Three years ago the veteran Cranbourne trainer went into the 2014 Guineas with $1.80 favourite Rich Enuff which just got rolled by Shooting To Win after a week of bedlam in the Keys camp.
In the heady times which led up to the race, Keys accepted Racing Victoria's offer of help to deal with a stream of media and other requests, at a time when he was trying to prepare Rich Enuff for the race and the sale of the colt was being negotiated.
Keys has been much calmer this week and he chuckles when he says Racenet's telephone call has been the only media enquiry he has fielded about his $151 Guineas outsider Al Passem.
But he says the son of Al Maher, who wears the same colours as Rich Enuff, would be taken much more seriously by everyone if it wasn't for a run in the Guineas Prelude that he describes as a "disaster."
Apprentice Ben Thompson tried to go forward on Al Passem in the Prelude but when that didn't go to plan the colt was jagged back and over-raced fiercely, beaten 7.2 lengths behind Perast.
"If you take out that disaster last start, his previous runs were really good including being beaten just a couple of lengths behind Catchy," Keys said.
"There was some trainer and jockey error in the Prelude and it was a total disaster.
"I know he was beaten a long way but the good thing was he was still trying to find the line after over-racing for a furlong.
"No-one has ever particularly shown much interest in this horse but I myself have a great opinion of him.
"He goes out at silly odds in the Guineas and those odds are not a true reflection of his ability or the fact he has always been crying out for 1600m.
"We have drawn shocking and if we try to take them on we will crucify ourselves.
"So we will drop back to hopefully seventh or eight and hopefully be running home strongly."
However Al Passem fares in the Guineas, Keys says it has been a lot less stressful time than in the lead-up to the 2014 Guineas.
The trainer was just about out of petrol tickets by raceday when he watched Rich Enuff get taken on up front around the Caulfield turn, only to narrowly go down to Shooting To Win.
"It's been a bit easier to deal with this week," Keys laughs.
"Before the 2014 race I remember Racing Victoria ringing me up and asking how I was travelling with the media.
"I told them I was struggling and I just didn't know how to handle it, so they helped me out.
"It was a rather silly period and it was getting a bit ridiculous, media people were coming out of trees wanting a piece of me.
"In the end, all the work that Rich Enuff did in the race that day took a toll on him. The race was really set up for a swooper.
"I always felt he deserved to win a Group I and that was probably my biggest disappointment.
"I'm a pretty basic bloke – money wouldn't have changed my life – it was more about what I was trying to achieve by winning a Group I."
Rich Enuff raced on after the 2014 Guineas but never won another race and he now stands at Victoria's Woodside Park Stud.
Keys' wife Louise owned 70 percent of Rich Enuff in his racing days and she now owns 50 percent of Al Passem.
