Shift in mindset puts sparkle in trainer's eye

Trainer Jason Bridgman is not focusing on what you can see about Burgundy, the favourite for tomorrow's $70,000 Windsor Park Cambridge Breeders Stakes at Te Rapa.

It's more about what you can't see.

Bridgman is delighted with the shift in mental attitude in Burgundy since the glamour 3-year-old was switched back to sprinting in recent months.

Burgundy returned a stunning performance to win the major 3-year-old sprint at Ellerslie over the Derby carnival after proving the top 1600m races were not yet his style in earlier attempts.

"He's mentally better now he's just kept to sprinting," said Bridgman as he set Burgundy for the group three race.

"He's much more relaxed.

"When we stepped him up in distance in the middle of the season he was finding pressures were getting to him."

At Ellerslie, Burgundy recorded a fast 1:10.22 for the 1200m after sitting three wide in mid-field without cover.

"He's moving beautifully at the moment and goes into this race at least as physically well as at Ellerslie."

This will be Burgundy's last race this campaign before spelling.

After his open sprint win at Hastings last weekend, Ginner Hart looks the one to beat. He got back to mid-field at Hastings and powered home, the type of run that will be required to figure this time.

Precision King came back from a short break with a good third at Tauranga last week, which should have topped him off nicely for this.

He has plenty of pace to track the leaders here and can finish off his races well.

His stablemate Lady Kipling is the likely favourite for the $100,000 Travis Stakes after her close fourth to Say No More in the group one Breeders Stakes at Te Aroha.

Lady Kipling got back in that race and finished strongly to be barely half a length from victory.

Some of her best form has been on left-handed tracks, like Te Rapa, where she has won two of her four starts.

Floria suffered from a bad barrier in the same race and covered plenty of extra ground and Postman's Daughter beat all by Veyron in the $200,000 Easter at Ellerslie.