Black Caviar's little brother All Too Hard and the Golden Slipper hero Pierro are set to elevate this season's Caulfield Guineas to something above its semi-classic status.

While the Caulfield Guineas (1600m) officially plays second fiddle to the Victoria Derby, it is invariably the classier race and this year's version seems bound to totally overshadow the traditional blue riband.

The Gai Waterhouse-trained Pierro was clearly Australia's supreme juvenile of last season, finishing it with a six-from-six record.

But he and All Too Hard have established a rivalry despite having only met once.

That was in the Sires' Produce, the middle leg of Pierro's Sydney two-year-old triple crown.

Pierro heads a nine-strong assault on the race by his trainer Waterhouse, who is yet to win the Guineas while All Too Hard's owner Nathan Tinkler has nominated 18 three-year-olds for the $1 million race.

Victoria's leading trainer Peter Moody also has plenty of three-year-olds from which to choose his final Guineas contenders, having entered 13.

Among them are the blue bloods Mulaazem and Laughing Lad, who are half-brothers to Sepoy and More Joyous respectively.