Racing: Stats hugely favour Tas Man Bromac

Fellow Jewels four-year-old contenders Lusty Mac. Photo / Greg Bowker

Statistics don't come much more compelling than those that make the case for Tas Man Bromac at Cambridge tonight.

The rare Friday night meeting there doubles as a Jewels pipe opener for some of the better horses on show, particularly in the main 2200m handicap.

Tas Man Bromac is joined in the race by fellow Jewels four-year-old contenders Lusty Mac (who shares the 20m mark with him) and Bettor Spirits, off the 40m backmark.

Winning off any handicap over 2200m at Cambridge can be tricky but Tas Man Bromac's constant exposure to standing start racing in his native Southland should be a huge advantage, especially as his stats suggest he is one of the best stand exponents in the country.

The Nathan Williamson-trained pacer has had 13 standing start races for nine wins and three placings but is no one-trick pony - two starts ago he finished second in the mobile Taylor Mile.

So his form suggests he should settle in front of the other two favourites tonight and that should be enough to win the fourth leg of the $40,000 Pick6.

Two other Jewels-bound runners coming out of group ones at Alexandra Park will dominate race four, with Temporale and Lemond progressive enough to suggest one of them should win tonight and either could place on Jewels Day.

Lemond has the home track advantage over Temporale, who has never raced at Cambridge, but the latter showed good gate speed last start and could be hard to catch over 1700m.

One of the best horses racing tonight is Shandale, another heading to the Jewels and while he has a huge class edge on all of race seven rivals with the obvious exception of Robbie Burns, his tricky draw suggests he is going to need to be clearly superior off the second line in the sprint trip. So if Robbie Burns finds the front he can definitely threaten.

The Cambridge meeting leads into the premier daytime fixture at Addington tomorrow where punters can expect another All Stars clean-up.

The draws of Pacing Major (three) and More The Better (four) make it impossible to go past them in the $170,000 Sires' Stakes Final, while Dream About Me, Golden Goddess and Piccadilly Princess will dominate the NZ Oaks betting.

Dream About Me was too good for her stablemates in the Nevele R Fillies Final last Saturday but that was after cruising to the lead in the middle stages.

If she gets that luxury tomorrow she should win again but if Golden Goddess stays in front the dynamics of the race will change, especially as our pacing Oaks are rarely won by those coming wide.

Dream About Me, though, may be good enough to be an exception to that rule.

Christen Me has all but been gifted the Winter Cup with only a 30m handicap while Habibti Inta's draw suggests he will settle in front of arch rival Enghien in the feature juvenile trot, which could be enough to decide the race.

Habibti Inta's trainer Paul Nairn also holds all the aces in the three-year-old Sales Series Trot, where Wilma's Mate could have the wood on stablemates Conon Bridge and Sunny Afternoon.

Weekend winners

• Best bet: Habibti Inta (Addington, R3): Draw a huge help and drops back to age group after taking on older trotters.

• Manners marvel: Tas Mas Bromac (Cambridge, R8): His standing start record is one of the best in the country.

• Each way: Swamp Major (Addington, R7): Could get in front of key rivals over 1950m.