On the day that marks the return to Racing Tauranga's home course, there would no more appropriate winner of today's feature event than locally trained Happy Sculpture.
The last meeting staged at Tauranga was in March and in the subsequent nine months the track has undergone major reconstruction.
In the same form that captured the $100,000 Concorde Sprint two starts back, Happy Sculpture would definitely be the horse to beat in the $25,000 Bayleys Country 1400.
The sticking point, however, is last Tuesday's Newmarket Handicap effort when he weakened badly to finish 11th, 10 lengths from the winner Kay's Awake.
"Take no notice of that, he had just done too well since the Concorde," said regular jockey Allan Peard.
Trainer Antony Fuller had warned Peard of that possibility beforehand.
But the result was not a factor in his absence from yesterday's Railway Handicap at Ellerslie.
"The Railway was never seriously on his programme," added Peard.
"He had a good blow the other day and he'll be tough to beat in this."
Happy Sculpture has a winning record on his home track, but the relevance of that is arguable given the cambering, widening and other work that has taken place in the Tauranga renovation programme.
The obvious threat to a local win is Matamata mare Shikoba, who returned from an enforced spring layoff with a brilliant win at Te Rapa on December 16.
Trainer Mark Walker sounds a word of warning that Shikoba may be vulnerable second-up. She represents enormous class, however, and that may be sufficient for another win as she prepares for the Thorndon Mile at Trentham this month.
The locals have a useful second string runner in the Jim Pender-trained Kissy Mullins.
Her recent form may not read well, but this is a big step down from the group two company she has taken on in her last two starts.
