KEY POINTS:
Don't expect too much from last season's champion filly Western Dream when she returns at Alexandra Park tonight.
Because trainer-driver Tony Herlihy isn't.
Western Dream looks ideally placed as the winner of 14 races coming into a mid-grade mares' event, but Herlihy says tonight's race is very much
a stepping stone.
And the enormous physical development which may help Western Dream later in the season could play against her tonight.
"She has really developed during her break," said Herlihy.
"She has filled out a lot and is a big mare now across the back.
"But she could take some racing to trim down and get back to her peak."
Western Dream has had two workouts and pleased Herlihy in the first before racing a bit flat in the second.
"I am sure she will be fine but it is hard to come back to racing against horses who are fully fit.
"So while I think she can win I wouldn't think she was a good thing."
Herlihy should know as he drove one of Western Dream's race-rivals tonight, Cruzee Lass, to an unlucky eighth at Pukekohe last week.
"She never got any room in the straight and felt good so she, along with a few of the others in there, will take beating."
Western Dream is using tonight's 2200m event as the first step toward the $200,000 Harness Jewels event for four-year-old mares' at Ashburton in June, a series for which she opened as the $2.50 favourite on Wednesday.
Last season she won the first two major fillies' races of the season at Alexandra Park before a luckless fifth in the Great Northern Oaks.
She then headed to Addington for two stunning wins in the Nevele R Final and New Zealand Oaks, earning her Filly of the Year honours.
While she appears to have the scope to develop into an open class mare, Herlihy will dodge taking on the boys in her four-year-old season, which looks a smart call with superstars like Pay Me Christian, Monkey King and Awesome Armbro dominating that crop.
One Herlihy-trained runner who has been competitive with those horses is Ambro The Thug, who was set to return to racing tonight.
But he has been scratched after suffering a minor setback last week.
"He has come up well though and will be fine to race again soon."
With Western Dream still on the way back to peak fitness Cruzee Lass and Delizioso look the most likely winners of tonight's feature event.
Cruzee Lass bounced back from a December form slump with a strong win four starts ago and her latest two outings on the grass have seen her denied a real crack at the leaders in the home straight.
From barrier one tonight she has the early speed to sit handy to the pace, which should be crucial in the small field.
Delizioso gets one of her last chances to visit the winner's circle as she is in foal. She raced well enough in tougher fields at the Auckland Cup carnival to suggest she can win.
The other highlights on tonight's programme are the juvenile races.
The fillies event sees Lizzie Maguire drawn to make amends for her two recent defeats, the latest when she ran on well for fifth from a poor draw in a similar field last Friday.
She does, however, meet tough opposition in So Deep and Genes West.
The male juvenile pace should see Maheer Skipper live up to his big reputation, one which saw him heavily backed on his way to finishing fourth in a far better field last Friday.
Western Wonder
* Last season's champion filly Western Dream returns to Alexandra Park tonight.
* Trainer-driver Tony Herlihy says she has developed considerably.
* He says she could be a run short of her best tonight.
* Tonight's meeting plays host to two very competitive juvenile races.