Racing: Young Kiwi glamour pacers draw perfectly

New Zealand's two top colts Follow The Stars, 2-year-old, and Sky Major, 3-year-old, will both start red hot on Saturday night. Photo / Thinkstock

New Zealand's glamour young pacers could hardly have fared better in the early chase for Breeders Crown glory.

The semifinals of the rich series will be held at Ballarat on Saturday night and most of the big-name Kiwis drew perfectly, all but guaranteeing their spots in the final on Sunday week.

And victory on Saturday could also earn them valuable respect for the finals, which is often crucial at the Breeders Crown as inferior qualifiers look to trail the big names to get dragged into a share of the spoils.

New Zealand's two top colts Follow The Stars (2-year-old) and Sky Major (3-year-old) will both start red hot on Saturday night after drawing barrier three in their respective 2200m semis.

Both won their first starts back in Australia for this campaign last weekend, Sky Major in stunning fashion at Melton where he came from last to break the 1720m age group track record.

He is drawn against key series rival Bling It On on Saturday but with the latter off the second line he has little chance of beating the dual Harness Jewels winner.

Their A$213,000 ($234,000) final though could be decided by the barrier draws, which will be conducted on Sunday.

Follow The Stars downed stablemate Linda Lovegrace at Bendigo last Saturday night and while he paced his last 400m in 26.2 seconds, the runner-up was marginally more impressive. Still, the Australian male juvenile crop is not strong and the best version of Follow The Stars will be too good for them.

New Zealand remarkably has five juvenile pacing fillies in Saturday's semis and three of them drew well.

Linda Lovegrace will start from barrier four in her semi, against the Gareth Dixon-trained Cyclone Kate, who has drawn a handy second line barrier but is now likely to be driven to qualify.

The other juvenile semi sees Big Lucy and Katy Perry to start from barrier three and four with Joanne's A Delight, who will be trainer Nigel McGrath's first official Australian starter, off the second line.

Kept Under Wraps, who is now back with trainer Mark Purdon, and Rocknroll Arden, who won her repechage last Thursday, will start off the second line in their early semis.

The 4-year-old heats of the series will be staged at Melton on Sunday and include in-form northern pacer Cyamach, with 10 group one finals on Sunday week.

Meanwhile, Christen Me pleased trainer Cran Dalgety with his second in a trial at Ashburton yesterday, not being asked for his best when chasing home Jimmy Johnstone.

Dalgety will find out today whether his stable star gets a race at Rangiora this Sunday.