KEY POINTS:
Cambridge trainer Roger James has a $200,000 ulterior motive for asking Casa de Campo to race twice in just five days at Ellerslie today.
If Saturday's stylish Avondale winner takes the Dunstan Feeds Qualifier like James hopes, Casa de Campo catapults into lightweight contention for the group two
City of Auckland Cup (2400m) on New Year's Day.
"I think he'd be a nice prospect if he happened to make the City of Auckland field," said James.
"He's going to be better in 12 months' time. But the 2400m is going to suit him better than 2200m, and he'll be better weighted than he would be in the Dunstan championship."
James said Casa de Campo, the winner of three of nine career starts, has bounced back from his Avondale success in faultless shape.
He also drops back from a rating 83 Dunstan Qualifier on Saturday to face 76 graded rivals today, carrying just 1.5kg more than he did at Avondale thanks to Craig Grylls' 2kg allowance.
"I really couldn't place him any better," said James. "And backing up so soon is not an unknown thing. Plenty of four-year-olds run in the Melbourne Cup every year with a run on Saturday in the McKinnon Stakes.
"It's just unknown for me to do it."
James also has Auckland Cup aspirations in March for the Generous gelding. But he's quick to add that Casa de Campo could just as easily go straight into the paddock after New Year's Day and be set for rich Brisbane targets.
"Brisbane is more likely at this stage, but we'll just take it one race at a time for now."
Casa de Campo may have only won narrowly on Saturday, but James said the exciting chestnut only did what he had to.
His rivals on the twilight card today are nowhere near City of Auckland class, with maybe a couple of exceptions.
With back to back wins, Fame looks headed for better company, but his last-start Matamata win was by the barest of margins.
And runner-up that day Wishing was trapped impossibly wide for most of the trip. Swap their runs in transit and you reverse the result.
Tinkerbeel, the favourite in the same Matamata race, is much better than her last-start ninth suggests and it may pay to forgive her that second-up failure. She's a course and distance winner who looked to come back a lot stronger with her unlucky fresh-up third.
Trainer Lance Noble has always had a high opinion of the Zabeel mare and he also has her nominated for the City of Auckland Cup.
Matthew could be the best of the rest. He had little luck last time out at Ellerslie when trapped three wide for most of the journey but fought on strongly for fifth behind the exciting Power Cut.
Meanwhile, James also has another promising staying prospect in Nova entered today.
The four-year-old, who last raced in this year's New Zealand Oaks, was still stuck on the ballot for race four yesterday. But she rates an outside place chance at least if she regains a start against R76 rivals. A recent trial win hinted that she could run a bold race fresh-up over 1400m.
"She won her trial with authority and that's something she couldn't have done last season. She was a bit weak in her last campaign but she's a much better mare now."