Excitement machine Levante may have reached a new peak going into the race of her life at Te Rapa on Saturday.
The stunning last-start winner of the Westbury Classic at Ellerslie will take on six-time Group 1-winner Avantage, Tarzino hero Callsign Mav and former Railway winner Julius in the $200,000 BCD Sprint, a race so deep, it rivals Melody Belle's attempt on the all-time New Zealand record for Group 1 wins in the Herbie Dyke on the same day.
The meeting also hosts the Waikato Guineas and the Ellis Classic for 3-year-old fillies, so ranks as one of New Zealand's great racedays.
But the return clash of the first three home in last month's Railway (Avantage, Julius and Levante) and Callsign Mav could be one of the highlights of the summer, and while co-trainer Ken Kelso isn't getting overconfident, he says Levante is exactly where she needs to be.
"When Sam [Collett] got off her, she said that is as good as she has ever worked," Kelso told the Herald.