Rapidly rising mare Elle Sourit faces biggest challenge in Manco Easter Handicap at Ellerslie today

Elle Sourit has won four or five starts but steps up in grade at Ellerslie today. Photo/Megan Liefting.

TODAY’S RACING

** Ellerslie, three black-type races, first race 12.44pm

** Whanganui, first race 12.27pm

** Randwick, All Aged Stakes, first race 1.30pm (NZ time)

** Ascot, WA, A$5m Quokka, first race 3.19pm (NZ time)

Trainer Andrew Forsman has a simple approach to his rapid riser Elle Sourit taking on some hardened warriors in today’s $150,000 Manco Easter Handicap at Ellerslie: there is only one way to find out.

The mare has a record of four wins in just five starts, along with a luckless second, but steps into the big time today after racing in a fillies and mares Rating 72 just two starts ago.

Forsman not only knows a thing or two about training quality horses, but is also renowned for not overrating his horses – so the fact Elle Sourit is even in today’s race is a vote of confidence.

“We think she is good enough but you only find out when you give them the opportunity,” says the Cambridge trainer.

“She has been really strong through the line in her races and of course this is a decent step up but I am confident she will perform well.

“My biggest concern is the fact she can often get back and charge late and that could make things difficult in such a big field, but it looks like there could be tempo in the race and that would help.”

Big-handicap 1600m races are confusing but can be profitable for punters who get them right, and you can make a strong winning case for a handful of runners, with December narrowly the favourite over Elle Sourit.

But any one of Omega Boy, Cannon Hill, Mollify, Top Shelf or Lupo Solitario coulo win without it being a surprise.

The Easter is one of three features to be run on a thankfully decent track at Ellerslie today, with both the two- and three-year-olds in even races as their connections strive for that all-important black type before the weather gods usher the good horses off to the paddock.

Forsman has Stromlinien (R3, No 9) in the SkyCity Star Way Stakes and her $10 price looks generous for a filly with genuine scope who last raced in the Karaka Millions.

“She has the class but she isn’t really screwed down,” he offers.

“She can win but ultimately I see her as a spring 1400m to 1600m filly.”

There is plenty of depth to the juvenile race, with more winners than maidens in the field, but Out Of The Blue is best suited by the conditions and with the services of Opie Bosson, he is a loose favourite in a race that may be determined by who gets the best run.

The Trelawney Stud Championships has become something of an autumn launching pad for promising staying careers, or in the case of Pinarello four years ago, a stepping stone to Queensland Derby success.

Solid Gold (R6, No 14) comes from the same stable as Pinarello and being a sister to former Australian Derby winner Major Beel is bred to relish the step up to 2100m, which looked very much the case when she bolted in last start over 1600m.

While she will be hard to beat, it is a big step up in grade from her maiden demo job and Glance (No 12) is pushing her for favouritism after she was a certainty beaten here when fourth last start.

Forsman has two good fillies in Shoebill and Autumn Queen in the Trelawney and says both can get some money, but he realises the depth of the field, with many of the horses coming from serious stables.

While the focus will rightly be on Ellerslie at home, there is plenty of Kiwi flavour to the final day of The Championships in Sydney, with Jimmysstar favourite for the A$1.5 million ($1.82m) All Aged Stakes.

He faces a wide barrier draw in the Group 1 over 1400m, in which he meets everything from in-form star sprinter Giga Kick to resuming Melbourne Cup winner Half Yours.

Earlier in the Randwick card, last-start Trentham Group 1 winner She’s A Dealer also faces a wide draw in the A$250,000 JRA Plate, stepping up to what should be a suitable 2000m trip.

And across in Perth, it is one of their biggest meetings of the year with the A$5m Quokka slot race on at 7.45pm (NZ time), featuring Jigsaw, who won the Railway at Ellerslie in January.

Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.