KEY POINTS:
Murray Baker says he'll know a lot more about where he's heading with smart 3-year-old Rios after tomorrow's $55,000 Bonecrusher Stakes at Ellerslie.
The Cambridge trainer is looking towards the group one First Sovereign Trust Levin Classic at Otaki in November and will be using this race as
a guide.
"The Otaki race is the aim - if he's good enough," he said.
Rios certainly looked to be heading towards that zone when he drew wide, sat three deep without cover and won easily on Mudgway Partsworld Stakes day at Hastings last start.
David Walsh has ridden Rios in each of his three career starts and has always rated the horse.
"He's the type that should just keep improving," said Walsh.
After rain early this week, the Ellerslie track will be the wettest Rios has raced on.
But fine weather leading into the weekend has helped the footing improve.
Baker believes Rios will manage the footing if Ellerslie races around a mid-3 range. In more recent meetings there has been a tendency for the track to often race better than the official reading.
Expectations are that Rios will be best suited when he gets up over distances beyond 1600m.
The top of the ratings for this race is shared by Rios and classy Pierre Joseph, who had his proposed Sydney campaign cancelled by the EI virus.
Trainer Stephen McKee has had to change Pierre Joseph's work around leading into this race.
"He's going well in training, but I've have to keep him really fresh because he'd been trained up to run over a fair bit more distance in Sydney before that trip got cancelled."
Although he managed to stay handy over 1200m and 1400m in his two starts this preparation, Pierre Joseph showed in some of his earlier juvenile races that he was happy to drop back early and relax.
With Rios certain to be handy to the speed from his No2 draw, Pierre Joseph will need to stay reasonably handy to the pacemakers this time.
McKee does not see the inside barrier draw as a major concern.
"He'll have to get off the rail at some stages because he's a horse that likes to get rolling," he said.
Pierre Joseph will be ridden for the first time by Mark Du Plessis.
There are plenty of emerging yet inexperienced horses in this field, one of them being Shevchenko, a maiden debut Taupo winner for John Sargent.
"He's a very laidback horse who doesn't show much in training, which is why I wasn't overly confident of what he might do at Taupo," said Sargent.
"Mark Todd had him before he went to the South Island, won a couple of trials with him and really rated the horse."
Sargent is looking for the best possible track for Shevchenko.
"He's a big long-striding horse who will need pretty good ground.
"This race will tell us whether he'll progress on to the 2000 Guineas or ease back and go through the grades."
Sing Song Girl was beaten nearly six lengths on debut when second to the hugely impressive Insouciant at Taupo, but it was still a smart effort.
Like Double Or Nothin she is in both the Soliloquy and the Bonecrusher and has been unlucky enough to have drawn barrier 14 in the latter and 10 in the fillies' race.
Agavero, also in both, and Just Diamonds are winners, putting them in with a chance for some money.