Tony Barron is not far off making the 2014 15 season his best to date, but whether he eclipses his best ever season total tonight remains to be seen.
The Makarewa trainer is sitting on 27 wins for the season from just 155 starters, at a UDR of more than .3000 - impressive in any trainer's language.
His best season haul came in 2002 03, when he prepared 28 winners, and he has six chances - plus three months of racing after that - to haul in his personal best.
However, he admits none of his six chances tonight are standouts.
''They're a good even bunch of horses,'' Barron said.
''There could be a couple of winners there and there could be none but they should all go good.''
One thing's for sure - Barron hopes he isn't waiting until race 10 to find out if he goes home a winner, because Thinking Smart could break his heart yet again.
The Mach Three mare has placed nine times from 14 starts without ever breaking through for a maiden win, and Barron chuckled when asked if the 4yr old was ever going to win.
''You tell me,'' he said.
''Every time she races in a bad field, I say there's nothing in there that can beat her, but she seems to find them.
''Over 1700m and drawn 1, it appears to me it should be her day, but she always finds one or two better. I hope we're not relying on her to win one for us by the end of the night.''
Perhaps that win will come earlier in the night from Mach Denario, who gets his first chance starting from the front line for Barron.
The son of Mach Three has drawn barrier 4 in the junior drivers mobile pace. Barron said gate speed was still an unknown factor after he was put on the unruly mark in March and only came back into the draw for his last start at Gore on Monday, where he drew 11.
''He certainly hasn't had the opportunities to get out but he certainly seems to pacing and steering a lot better now.
''He's got a bit of bottom to him so I'm hoping he'll be up there handy.''
Heretic Franco (race 7) is in top form for Barron and owner Mark McNamara, but the two consecutive wins have come in the amateur drivers grade. Tonight's c3 c6 assignment is a lot tougher, although she does have the inside draw of barrier 1.
''It's definitely a step up but she [mile] rated 1.58 last start - I'd like to think she would get out and get handy,'' he said.
''Best Of The Bunch is a bit of a worry, but Starsky's Dream - I'd love to be sitting on his back.''
Barron said the daughter of Lis Mara had been at Woodend Beach since her win at Rangiora on April 19.
Of the rest, Barron said Secret's Out (race 3) would be relying on gate speed in front of her to be a factor, while Schwartz Denario (race 6) has recovered well from a torrid introduction to c1 racing in January.
''It was just a typical horse that wins first up,'' Barron explained.
''You go from maidens to c1 and it's like daylight to dark and she just found it a wee bit hard. She didn't have a lot of luck, to be fair, but she's come up good this time and she trialled up nicely at Winton a fortnight ago.''
The country's leading driver, Dexter Dunn, takes the reins behind Schwartz Denario and also gets the drives behind Jacky's Choice (race 9) and Thinking Smart for Barron.
