A heavy track may give Royal Flight the edge in the Great Easter Handicap at Riccarton tomorrow.
Royal Flight won over the Easter Handicap distance, 1400m, at Riccarton on a heavy track in September. She was spelled in November and resumed on a wining note over 1400m at Wingatui on March 12.
She has had three subsequent starts for a fifth at Riccarton, a second there to El Chico, beaten a short head and a win over 1400m at Riverton in a race for fillies and mares. Her form confirmed her third to Propel and Taking The Mickey in the Winter Cup at Riccarton in August.
Stupendous, who won the Great Easter last year, is among the rivals for Royal Flight.
Stupendous has yet to win on a heavy track.
Inferno, a stablemate of Royal Flight, with Brian and Shane Anderton, has a tough task with top weight of 59kg in the Great Autumn Handicap.
The last-start winner of the Canterbury Gold Cup (wfa, 2000m) on a slow track, Inferno has 2kg above scale weight.
Blancpain and Peyow Peyow are proven performers on heavy ground at Riccarton.
Blancpain has won the New Zealand Cup Trial and Winter Classic this season.
Leading trainer Michael Pitman said he would inspect the Riccarton track this morning before deciding on a start for Milo in the race for 3yr-olds tomorrow.
"I would like to give him a race before he goes to Brisbane," Pitman said last night. Milo has not raced since finishing sixth in the Southland Guineas after a bad check in the early stages. He was also galloped on.
He won the Gore Guineas and Dunedin Guineas.
Milo is booked to fly to Sydney next Friday with stablemates Conscious Mistake and El Chico. They will then travel by road to the Gold Coast. Milo is due to race in Brisbane on May 21.
Conscious Mistake, a last-start winner at Wingatui and successful in heavy ground, is also in the 3yr-old race tomorrow.
Chris Johnson has the mount.
Pitman has won 88 races this season. He has a lead of 24 over Jon Sargent in the premiership.
