Racing: Easy track right on the button

With most of Auckland and Waikato bone-dry, the Tauranga track tomorrow will be at least easy and could remain soft.

Matamata trainer Graham Richardson couldn't care less. Tauranga had 16mm of rain on Tuesday night, which in itself would not be a problem had the district not received 160mm the week before.

The track is rated soft at 3.8 and track manager Tony Robins says if the predicted showers arrive today it will stay soft for tomorrow's raceday.

"We've had no wind and it's been overcast and there has been little in the way of drying.

"If the showers stay away and we get a bit of wind, the track will get back to easy, but there's no way in the world it will improve to firm."

Which is bad news for the connections of some horses, but Richardson sees it as a way to change his dreadful luck lately.

"My last three important runners, Octapussy, Sista and British Ensign, have all been very unlucky. If things come in threes then I've had mine and I'm due a change."

Sista was so badly checked when finishing a close third to Senorita Dane in the $40,000 Desert Gold Stakes at Trentham last start that she was promoted to second.

The interference almost certainly cost her a win and she gets her chance to prove that in the $27,500 Ultimate Motor Group Ford 3YO tomorrow. The condition of the track is great news for her chances.

British Ensign had his chances almost obliterated soon after the start of the $150,000 Easter at Ellerslie and did remarkably well to finish third, coming from well back in the field. The winner Calveen bolted home, but British Ensign would have finished a lot closer without the bad check.

He had been getting back early in his races even before the Easter, but Richardson says he can take up a handy spot when necessary - often an advantage at Tauranga.

"In fact, when he was racing in Melbourne he was known as something of a frontrunner."

Richardson said the prospect of an "off" track posed no problem for British Ensign.

"He can handle anything but a bog."

If Richardson can get Sista and British Ensign over the line, he puts himself in with a chance at the $20,000 TRAC trainer's bonus for three wins on the card.

His other runners are last-start winners Candace and Athalian.

"Candace goes way up in class, but she was impressive winning by nearly three lengths at Matamata, running the 1200m in 1.9.88.

"Athalian in the last has drawn 15 of the 16 runners, but her work has been the best of all."