"I don't think you will see him jump out of the ground this weekend but next week he will go to Trentham and have the hood back on.
"So this week's run, the hood and the big track I think he will be better again next week and then spot on for the Cup (Trentham, January 29).
While the astute Sharrock doesn't think Waisake will win today it doesn't mean he has given up on winning the Marton Cup.
"I think my other horse, Our Hail Mary, will be hard to beat," he says.
"She has been racing over shorter trips so far this campaign but steps up to the 2200m and she won the Trentham Stakes this time last year over 2100m.
"So I think she is a big show on Saturday."
The Sharrock pair get healthy weight advantages in the Listed race over House Of Cartier, whose run in the Zabeel Classic last start is forgivable as she got back in a sprint home group one on a track probably too dry for her.
Still, while today's assignment is easier, she still has to carry 59kgs, a lot for any mare in a decent handicap race.
Sharrock suggests punters could do worse than follow another couple of starters from his stable in earlier races today.
Sumi (R4, No.5) looks a smart mare in the making who found herself in tight quarter late last start.
"She will be better for that run and while her main aim is getting some black type in the Wairarapa Breeders on Waitangi Day she will race well this weekend."
He says his best chance of the day is almost certainly in Darci La Bella in race three.
The winner of five of her eight starts she was beaten by a race rival today in Stumpy in a similar Awapuni race last start but meets him 1.5kgs better off in the weights today with apprentice Masa Hashizume claiming.
"There wasn't a lot between them last start and I am hoping the weight is enough to make the difference."
Thoroughbred punters find themselves with a extremely rare Saturday without a meeting in the northern region, with Ellerslie on Sunday instead and hosting two and three-year-old races with potential major implications on the $1million features ahead, the Karaka Million and Vodafone Derby.
That leaves the only other meeting of any of the three codes domestically the historic Gold Nuggets meeting from Kumara.
The race is, as usual these days, dominated by North Island-trained horses with the most intriguing being former group one JJ Atkins Stakes and Caulfield Guineas prelude winner Sacred Elixir.
Now trained by Kevin Myers, he would be one of the best performed gallopers to race on the famous West Coast circuit in the last three decades and was luckless when running on at Reefton on Wednesday.
He has a wide draw and huge weight today but was heavily backed to win today's race as soon as the market opened on Wednesday.
