Hodgson, who has just four horses in work and rides his own trackwork, will go head to head with the first lady of racing with his only two starters in the mid-week meet.

Waterhouse and Adrian Bott will bring three horses to the capital for the third meeting in Canberra since coronavirus restrictions have been in place.

It makes Hodgson's bid for a double even harder, but he has set his sights on four-year-old Eaglehawk producing a "grand final" performance after a strong start to their partnership. Eaglehawk will run in the benchmark 60 (2000 metres) while Dispossessed will have a "training run" in a maiden.

Waterhouse will be an intimidating figure in both, with Maybach in the same field as Eaglehawk and Aqueous to go against Dispossessed.

The Waterhouse and Bott Randwick training facility dwarfs Hodgson's operation, doing most things himself and training for the love as a 60-year-old. But worried about the challenge? No way. Hodgson is happy to take on anyone who crosses his path.

"[Waterhouse] has nominated and we've got to handle it. That's how it is," Hodgson said.

"I haven't actually looked at Gai's horses' form yet. The main thing is I'm happy with my horses and that's all that matters.

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"With Eaglehawk ... before I got him he had 20-odd starts and had won just once, so there was no point me doing the same thing. So this is a bit of a grand final for him ... going up in grade and I think he can get to the 2000 metres easy. That'll open up a lot more opportunities for him."

The Canberra Racing Club will continue with its strict bio-security measures for the seven-race card on Wednesday.

The Federal will provide the main show, with four Canberra runners to take on four interstate visitors in the battle for a slice of the $30,000 in prizemoney, which has been reduced due to the coronavirus impact.

Keith Dryden's Sweet Knuckle will be one of the favourites as the trainer looks to continue his winning ways with jockey Blaike McDougall after combining for 21 wins together.

McDougall is seven wins clear in the jockeys premiership race with five meets remaining, while Dryden is five wins ahead in the trainers premiership.

Hodgson is happy to toil away under the radar, calling on Kayla Nisbet to jump back onboard Eaglehawk after piloting the gelding to his two wins at Queanbeyan this year.

"The winning combination has been Queanbeyan, Kayla and Eaglehawk. We'll venture to Canberra to go over 2000 metres. He won a mile race at Queanbeyan by five lengths ... you can only try them so we'll see," Hodgson said.

"He won't run a shocker ... he'll be right in it. But with Dispossessed we've just got to see where he's at. It'll be an educational run."

CANBERRA BEST BETS

John Scorse's tips

Best bet: Race 1, No 5 Manila Thriller. Just missed first up, ideally drawn to break her duck.

Best roughie: Race 2, No. 6 Larmour. Well weighted at third run in.