Start Wondering pips Natuzzi (4) in last year's sprint at Te Rapa. Photo / Trish Dunell
Trainer Evan Rayner isn't ready to concede the $200,000 BCD Sprint at Te Rapa to hot favourite Kawi just because he thrashed his stable star Start Wondering last start.
In fact, Rayner says all last season's sprinter of the year needs is more fine weather and it could be a case of deja vu on Saturday in the 1400m group one on Waikato racing's biggest day.
While the $400,000 Herbie Dyke over 2000m carries a higher stake and the Sir Tristram Classic looms as make-or-break time for some key NZ Oaks hopefuls, the BCD Sprint is the clash of the titans.
Not only does Start Wondering return to defend his title but he clashes again with Kawi, whose last-start second in the Telegraph was one of the beaten performances of the racing summer. Add in Packing Eagle, Sacred Star and Heroic Valour and you have a serious horse race.
While Kawi came from near last and wide for his second to Enzo's Lad in the Telegraph three weeks ago, Start Wondering dropped out to finish 16th of 18 but that hasn't dented trainer Rayner's confidence.
"I think he just didn't like the track," explains Rayner.
"He only likes it really firm and once he got four or five wide at Trentham the track was quite chopped up, I'm told, so I am willing to forgive him that.
"And the start before he also struck a wet track in the Railway so if the weather stays fine we might finally get the track he needs to show his best."
But is the seven-year-old going as well as he was last season, when he went into this race with a win in the Railway and second in the Telegraph next to his name?
"I am sure he is. Things just haven't panned out for him but in himself he is very well," suggests Rayner.
Rayner got his first inkling of a possible deja vu moment this Saturday when Start Wondering drew barrier three, from where he should be able to settle handy while Kawi drew the outside of the nine runners, suggesting he will settle closer to last than first.
"We won this race last year when Kawi was fifth by getting a trail and then getting a break on him before he wound up and there is a chance that could happen again. I am not saying we will beat him, but we definitely have a hope."
Start Wondering has one advantage over many of his rivals on Saturday, at least being on level weights with Kawi at weight-for-age is no change from what they carried in the Telegraph, whereas for the rest of the field it means they are worse off.
Bookies opened Kawi, who will be ridden by Jonathan Riddell in the absence of suspended Jason Waddell, the $2 favourite but are keeping Start Wondering safe at $5.50, obviously taking their draws into account.
While the big boys dominate the BCD market the girls are the only ones in single figures for the Herbie Dyke, with Lizzie L'Amour the $3.10 favourite over Devise at $5.50 and Coldplay at $6.80.
With four-year-old mares Savvy Dreams and Nicoletta the next two in the market, the first males given any hope in New Zealand's richest weight-for-age race are Livamol Classic winner Wait A Sec and former NZ Derby winner Rangipo, both at $13.
Earlier in the day Riddell combines with another CD-trained favourite in Dijon Bleu in the Sir Tristram Classic as trainer Lisa Latta seeks to find out whether the star filly will stay.
Dijon Bleu was brilliant in the Desert Gold Stakes at Trentham last start and was allowed to miss the Karaka Classic to go down the Oaks path but Saturday's race tends to be the distance line in the sand for many fillies, with the step up to 2000m ending the Oaks aspirations of the likes of Volpe Veloce this time last season.
If Dijon Bleu can master it she will almost certainly be the new Oaks favourite come Saturday night.
But with Levin Classic runner-up Belle du Nord, Karaka Classic hard-luck story Kapoor and Werther's impressive little sister Milseain among Dijon Bleu's rivals she will have to earn that title.
• Start Wondering is looking for back-to-back wins in Waikato's biggest sprint race.
• That will mean overcoming arch-rival Kawi again.
• Saturday's Te Rapa meeting is their strongest of the season.