KEY POINTS:
Yesterday's brilliant drying weather has put the Ellerslie track into the right zone for Rios in today's $55,000 Hugh Green Group Bonecrusher Stakes at Ellerslie.
It was all the smart Cambridge 3-year-old needed.
Three-year-olds emerge quickly at this time of year and Rios is bursting onto the scene
at exactly the right time as the bigger money starts appearing.
A track that should race as a dead surface will almost certainly allow the on-pace runners near the rail to kick on in the home straight and that will suit Rios, who sat three deep when winning at Hastings last start.
His job was made a touch easier yesterday with the scratching of talented filly Double Or Nothin, a dashing debut maiden winner at Ruakaka who will instead tackle the fillies on the day's other feature.
The obvious danger is quality colt Pierre Joseph, who will be fitter for a win and a third at Ruakaka since resuming.
He was one of last season's better juveniles and always gave the impression he would be better in his second year.
The betting should be more evenly spread in the Cambridge Stud Soliloquy Stakes and it would be appropriate if the race sponsor, Sir Patrick Hogan, won it with the filly he bred and part owns, Lovetrista.
The classy filly made a belated debut in maiden class at Te Rapa on September 5 and was beaten two noses when totally unsuited by the very wet conditions.
This will be a terrific clash between the likes of Double Or Nothin and Lovetrista and smart types Champagne Stakes winner Valpolicella and Keepa Cruisin, one of the better juvenile fillies of the old season.
Difficult to assess yet how good Double Or Nothin and Lovetrista might become, but both are big talents.
This race might tell us.
If you had to pick out the three best debut maiden winning performances of last season, Chase The Sun (No2, R2) would have to be in your trifecta. He didn't back up so well two weeks later at his only other start back in May, but comes in here fresh from a spell. He has only to be near his best to take beating.
With most of the leading runners coming from completely different form backgrounds and some in the early stages of new campaigns, the open sprint, Race 6 is a nightmare.
Weight might help us sort it out and the 2kg Tasha Collett pulls off the back of Tatlock (No8) might be a big factor. He looked the big improver from last season and should be in for a lucrative preparation.
Alonzo (No9) is talented and almost always goes well when fresh, but he is more a 1400m and 1600m type. There is a chance the 1200m might prove a shade too sharp for him, but by all means put him in your trifectas. Pinsoir (No16) is back in the field off the ballot and might turn in a cheeky effort. Not an easy race.
All In Trouble (No8, R9) is one of the better prospects on the day. Things went wrong last start after a good stretch of form and that race is best forgotten.
Hi Yo Gotcha (No8, R10) went well enough for a close third at Tauranga two starts back to suggest the right-handed track might not be a problem. She got back to winning form at Awapuni last start and has the ability to make it two straight in a field that lacks stars.
Outrage (No13, R1 at New Plymouth) had things go wrong when she was beaten out of the money at Ruakaka last start, but her three earlier efforts were good enough to suggest she should be given another chance.
Sila Jasak (No4, R2) and Let's Rule (No7) are a couple of maidens with talent. Wrap your betting around the pair.
Nom Du Jeu (No1, R6) was backed and beaten at Awapuni last start, but it may not pay to take too much notice of that. He is still very green and did a couple of things wrong as he made ground into third.
He has enormous potential and being a horse that takes time to wind up, he will enjoy going from 1600m to 1800m.