Ozzie hopes Marmelo can bring him biggest double of all

Five years ago the property developer, hotelier and nightclub owner barely knew how to put on a bet.

Now he has a CV that most owners would kill for, having had an interest in multiple group 1 winners, including a stake in Protectionist, who in 2014 won the biggest race of all, the Melbourne Cup.

Beginner's luck? Maybe. But more likely it's having a sharp mind, a quick wit, and the smarts to surround himself with people who know rather more about racing and horses than at which end they bite and at which end they kick.

And now he is poised to again etch his name on the honour roll of Australia's greatest races, the Caulfield Cup and the Melbourne Cup, with a couple of contenders he bought in England to aim at the big spring double.

Marmelo is Kheir's main hope, an English raider trained by Hughie Morrison.

But he also has another import, Wall Of Fire, prepared at Newmarket by Hugo Palmer.

There is a third string to the Kheir bow in the shape of Mask Of Time, an ex-French horse trained by Palmer, but he is more likely to run over 1600 metres or 2000 metres this spring.

Marmelo goes into Saturday's Caulfield Cup partnered by champion Sydney rider Hugh Bowman in good form having won the prestigious 3000-metre Prix Kergorlay at Deauville last time out, one of several good races he has run in France.

The owner is expecting a prominent show. "We had been following him for the past six months," Kheir said. "We had been speaking to his owners to buy a 50 per cent option. We did so and said if he kept improving we would bring him here. He ran in the Kergorlay and convinced Hughie Morrison to bring him here.

"I think Marmelo and Wall Of Fire are the right horses ... I think he will surprise a few. Before opting to come for the cup their plan had been to go to Royal Ascot over 2400 metres so the drop back in distance shouldn't be an issue. I can't see him finishing outside the top five."

Kheir's involvement in racing came solely as the result of a friend calling him up and asking him to find a hobby to take his mind off his hectic schedule.

"I was a workaholic, working 24/7. I didn't ever relax, so I needed to find a way to unwind."

He started to go to the harness racing every week with a mate, just for dinner and to chill out.

He was involved in a pacer called Mr Nickel, which won the Australian Pacing Gold Championship, and, having had something on it, he was in a good mood when his phone rang as he was leaving Melton.

"I backed him, he won at a good price, and when I was in the car park coming out I got a call from a friend who was trying to sell his involvement in a horse called Master Of Design. I had won with Mr Nickel, so I bought it."

Master Of Design ran in the Australian Bloodstock colours - the blue, black and white - and sprang a surprise when winning the group 1 TJ Smith Stakes as an outsider.

That whetted Kheir's appetite, and he stepped up his connection with the syndicator, with whom he still has an involvement.

That paid dividends when he had a share in Melbourne Cup third-placegetter Lucas Cranach (in 2011) and also the runaway winner, Protectionist, in 2014.

"Protectionist winning was a great feeling, so I started to get more involved then and decided not to be part of such big syndicates all the time but to buy horses with some mates so we could have a closer involvement," Kheir said.

"I was in Our Ivanhowe, also Exospheric, who both were very good horses and ran in all the top races.

"Wall Of Fire has been been a project horse. I left him with Hugo Palmer and we have seem him improve over the past 12 months.

"I am not in racing for the money, I am in it for the enjoyment with friends. It's given me a new lease of life away from work."

If precedent is anything to go by, Kheir has another very good reason to be confident about his charge's hopes this spring.

In 2011 and 2014 his wife Linsey was pregnant with their two eldest children leading up to the Melbourne Cup, and Kheir came close with Lucas Cranach on the first occasion before winning with Protectionist two years later.

"My wife Linsey is due to give birth to our third child three days after the Melbourne Cup. Every time she is pregnant around cups time we have a runner who goes well.

"In 2012 we had Lenni and in 2014 our daughter Audrey was born."

It's been a diverting ride for the son of Lebanese immigrants who grew up in Brunswick and left school with no qualifications.

"My father was a typical immigrant, he worked day and night. I was not very good at school, I never concentrated and I wanted to leave as soon as I could, so he got me a job in a factory with a friend of his. His instructions to his friend were to get me to work so hard I hated it and went back to school.

"The job was in the rag trade, so I learnt a lot about selling. I didn't go back to school but I knew I didn't want to work on the factory floor.

"I bought one house, then started building units, opened a bar and then it mushroomed from there."

And with his touch and drive, there's no reason, at least on the track, why it won't keep on getting bigger and better.