Racing: Two Illicit may have edge in $220,000 Breeders Stakes

Two Illicit's win in the Captain Cook is a pointer. Photo / Race Images

Two Illicit has only to repeat her winning performance from an even stronger race a few months ago to provide punters with the value option in the $220,000 Breeders Stakes at Te Rapa.

The class mare is one of the three horses in the last Group 1 of the thoroughbred season at Te Rapa tomorrow to have won at that level before, alongside last start winners Imperatriz and Coventina Bay, the favourites.

But Two Illicit's win in the Captain Cook Stakes on this track and distance in open weight-for-age company suggests she can threaten the favourites and co-trainer Roger James says her work this week suggests she will.

"Her work has been right back to her best, as good as she was before she won the Captain Cook," says James.

"I think she is ready to race up to that level and she will need to be with the other two favourites having better draws."

Imperatriz gets barrier one and has the tactical speed to use it, with Coventina Bay able to race handier these days than she used to so a potential trailer from barrier two.

James says that raises the concern of jockey Opie Bosson controlling the race and turning it into a sprint home, which would suit the exciting filly far more than a older mare such as Two Illicit who is proven up to 2400m, a distance she was runner-up in the NZ Derby two years ago.

A sit-and-sprint tempo wouldn't ideally suit Coventina Bay either as she is dropping back from the 2000m of her Bonecrusher Stakes win so the race stacks up as a tactical battle of the favourites.

After a fine week in Hamilton and the track a good3 with the rail in the true, those coming wide could struggle to make ground on good horses so it would be a surprise if one of the big three didn't add to their Group 1 tally.

James and training partner Robert Wellwood also expect a big performance from maiden juvenile filly Contagious (R2, No 7) in the strong two-year-old race.

"She is the other one who has worked really well this week and while it is a nice field she will be tough to hold out."

The Te Rapa meeting highlights a rare day with racing in Hamilton and Hastings, with the latter to host their Hawke's Bay Cup meeting.

The Cup isn't a vintage field but the open sprint is a beauty with local mare Can I Get An Amen (R6, No 8) the one to beat after winning the Lightning Stakes at Trentham last start and not being harshly punished in the handicaps.

One of the finds of the domestic racing season in Matamata galloper Mali Ston provides some rare Kiwi representation in Sydney this autumn when he makes his Australian debut at Randwick.

Trainer Darryn Weatherley says while Mali Ston is well for the 1400m, he will also improve as he targets races like the Hawkesbury Cup and the new race The Coast, worth A$500,000, in the next month.

Weatherley's son Sam has returned to Sydney, where he formerly worked for Chris Waller, to partner Mali Ston.