"He's trained on fairly well and he'll probably strip a little fitter after having that run. We are really happy with him," she said. "It will be good to have Opie Bosson back on after winning last start on him. Barrier four will suit and he'll be in a position to go wherever he wants depending on the speed. There looks to be plenty of speed in the race, so he should be able to get a nice run from there."
Browne said there are no set plans for Stratocaster after today, but she would like to head towards the Wellington Cup carnival with the seven-year-old. "We'll just run on Saturday and see where we are at as far as distance goes. We'll hopefully have a go at some of the races over the Christmas carnival leading down to Trentham."
Meanwhile, the Cambridge trainers will contest the Gr.2 Cal Isuzu Stakes (1600m) with Group One performer Belle du Nord.
The daughter of Reliable Man pleased her connections with her fresh-up unplaced run in the Listed Levin Stakes (1200m) at Otaki last month and they are hoping that the forecast rain will stay away ahead of today's race. "We were really happy with her run in the Levin Stakes, obviously it was quite a leader-biased track that day," Browne said.
"She got far enough back, but hit the line well and we're pretty happy with how she is going into Saturday.
"I think that as long as the rain doesn't turn up the track will suit her a lot better, she does like it firm."
The four-year-old mare could be in for a big summer, with her next big assignment set for later this month.
"This is just a stepping stone towards mile races over Christmas."
- NZ Racing Desk
