Racing: Rosscoe proving a hard act to predict

Rosscoe has been many things in his career - the bright young thing, a fat waste of time and eventually the punters' enemy.

So trainer Tony Milina has no idea what to expect next.

The latest phase in Rosscoe's career starts at Alexandra Park tonight when he resumes in the feature trot against old foes Pompallier and Iwi Alex.

His comeback is well-timed with the open class trotting ranks a mess of underachievers and part-time gallops, with Allegro Agitato looking the only serious heiress to Lyell Creek's crown.

Rosscoe and Pompallier are two of the few open class trotters good enough to beat Allegro Agitato but while Pompallier made progress last season, Rosscoe became a professional money muncher.

He started the season looking too tubby to be a serious racehorse and then developed the annoyingly expensive habit of galloping for no reason 100m from the winning post.

Even when he did win driver James Stormont had to nurture him

So Milina has lowered his sights, tightened Rosscoe's belly and crossed his fingers.

"Last season was a tough one," he admits. "I had him too big for a start but this campaign I have kept the weight off him and I think he will race fitter from the start.

"But we still don't know whether he is over the galloping thing. It is mental and that means we don't know what to expect until the pressure goes on."

Rosscoe's problem is while he is fast enough to trot a 56s last 800m he doesn't have a lot of trotting blood in the maternal side of his family, apart from his champion half-sister Merinai, who may simply be a genetic freak.

Cross that with being by firebrand stallion Sundon and you have a horse who can do some pretty kooky things at high speed.

"That was made worse because he was so fast when he was young that he got to open class too soon," said Milina.

"Once he was there he didn't know what to do when things got tough."

Milina has given Rosscoe a longer, slower build-up this campaign and says punters may be better off taking notes tonight then jumping on the six-year-old.

"He has only had the one workout last week and there were only two other horses in it.

"I took him to Kumeu on Tuesday and gave him a fast workout in which he went great.

"But he won't be 100 per cent fit for this race.

"So at the moment we are playing wait and see with him. We all know how good he is but we have to see whether he is stronger mentally this time in."

If he does develop a brain to match his motor Rosscoe will win a serious race this season.

If he doesn't then Pompallier can develop into the best trotter in the north.

The Interdominion Final placegetter has overcame a slight infection which saw him scratched from a similar race two weeks ago and will need to produce something like his best to warrant a trip to Addington for the Dominion Handicap in a fortnight.

The trotter to beat is undoubtedly Iwi Alex, who was awesome winning fresh-up two weeks ago.

She had not even had a trial to prepare her for that outing so has to be fitter tonight and the small field negates her 30m handicap.

The Thames mare has rare acceleration and with several front runners in the race the speed should be on, enabling her to bomb late.