The large contingent of New Zealanders already in Brisbane for the winter carnival will be joined by Brisbane Cup hopeful Gorgeous George who runs in Saturday's P J O'Shea Stakes.

Buoyed by the five-year-old's second to King Of Ashford in last month's Hawke's Bay Cup (2200m), trainer Frank Ritchie decided to bring him over for a crack at the Group One Cup (3200m) on June 12.

"He got to the line strongly at Hawke's Bay and showed me he is where he should be," Ritchie said.

"He isn't really a weight-for-age horse but I still expect him to run well on Saturday.

"He drops to 51 kilos in the Cup and that's where he will come into his own.

"I know he can run 3200 metres which is a plus.

"Although he hasn't won a race for a long time he has been working well and I don't think the depth of stayers is there this year."

Gorgeous George has won three of his 25 starts and been placed 11 times including a short head second to Zabeat in the Wellington Cup in January 2005.

Zabeat showed his class with a brave second to County Tyrone in the recent Sydney Cup, only being run down inside the final 200 metres.

There were 17 entries for the O'Shea (2400m) the traditional leadup to the Cup.

They include 2005 Sydney Cup winner Mahtoum, Saturday's Premier's Cup winner Coalesce and Brave Lancer who are the three favoured runners for the Brisbane Cup on June 12 with TAB Sportsbet behind Desert Master who was not among the original nominations.

Ritchie, who is best known as the trainer of the great Bonecrusher, has scaled down his team after moving from Auckland to Cambridge about six months ago.

Over two seasons between 1985 and 1987, Bonecrusher won six Group One races in Australia including the AJC Australian Derby and the Cox Plate.

Since then the only horse Ritchie has deemed good enough to bring across the Tasman was classy filly Showella who won the 1999 South Australian Derby.

Her third foal, a filly by Galileo, is currently showing promise and Ritchie is looking forward to her career.