SUPERSTAR apprentice Jake Noonan will not make the trip to Cairns but there will be plenty of star power at Cannon Park this weekend.

Headlining the show at the Cairns Cup will be superstar jockey Damien Oliver who will bring the Melbourne Cup to the Far North as well as gain one or two Sunday rides.

"We were planning to give him more but the way it has fallen he'll probably have one or two races," Cairns Racing Club official Warren Massingham said yesterday.

Massingham said Noonan decided not to travel to Cairns because of the lack of horses at his preferred weight of 54kg.

With prior commitments in Melbourne this weekend, Noonan was only available on Sunday.

"Rather than have him come up and sit in a sauna so he can make the weight, we'll try to bring him up for the Amateurs," Massingham said.

"Hopefully, we can then give him three or four days to prepare."

It will be confirmed how many races Oliver competes in when the acceptances are announced this morning.

Noonan's father Tony Noonan will be in Cairns with fellow trainer Mick Robins, whose stayer Rain Lover in 1969 became the first horse in a century to win back-to-back Melbourne Cups.

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