Racing: Tricky test for punters on first big day at Pukekohe

Opie Bosson and Brando are back together on Saturday. Photo / Trish Dunell

Tempo and how the Pukekohe track plays on its first big day of a new era could be the crucial factors in deciding one of the toughest punting races of the season on Saturday.

The $120,000 Easter is an old-fashioned handicap mile which means bringing together a wide range of horses and formlines as 1600m is the sweet spot where sprinters and middle distance horses meet.

That is one reason tempo is so important as a fast-run mile tends to get to the bottom of the 1400m horses and favour the 2000m runners whereas a dawdling middle section of a big handicap mile can favour the speedsters, who are usually on the pace as they have more speed.

That equation along with whether closer to the fence is an advantage or the track ends up favouring the swoopers could decide the race for which Brando is a deserved favourite.

He was third in a Group 1 mile two starts ago and second at Awapuni last start, albeit outpointed late by Germanicus.

The pair meet again with Germanicus only 0.5kgs worse off than he was last which makes the fact Brando is $4 and Germanicus $21 seem far too large a discrepancy, especially with the latter getting premiership-leading jockey Michael McNab.

Even allowing for the fact Brando has the Mark Walker-Opie Bosson combo that punters love backing, one of the major factors in the price difference may be their draws.

Brando has barrier 3 and should settle in the first six, while Germanicus has barrier 15 albeit to start from around barrier 12.

Last time at Awapuni they both started from wide draws and got similar runs, tomorrow Brando should be handier, which is another reason the tempo and how the track plays will be crucial.

All things being equal Brando looks to have a significant advantage but if the track starts to favour swoopers then Germanicus comes back to a more level playing field.

Either way Brando is the horse to beat and Germanicus the each-way value in the race that contains plenty of in-form lightweight chances like Samiam Seussie, Tellall, Summer Passage and Clever Ruds.

On a day of big fields which should create plenty of opportunities for punters, the two other black-type races look no easier.

The Championship Stakes for late-season staying three-year-olds doubles as an important trial for those with Queensland aspirations in the winter and while Pinarello is the most talented galloper in the race his interrupted preparation isn't ideal.

With Ruach, Hoard The Bourbon, Saint Bathans, Achieve and even the surprise fourth of the New Zealand Derby in Soldier Boy all in the right form to challenge, it looks a fun challenge for punters.

The Champagne Stakes is New Zealand's only 1600m black-type juvenile race and Waitak picks himself after finishing third to two fine fillies in the Group 1 Sires' Produce at Awapuni last start, his natural racing pattern suggesting his wide draw won't be insurmountable.

Saturday's other domestic thoroughbred meeting sees a rare $100,000 race at Riccarton with the Canterbury Gold Cup, which Prise De Fer has chosen as his target over the Easter Handicap, for which he was also an acceptor, and he looks ideally suited by the weight-for-age conditions.