Guiseppina could prove the worth of her Telegraph Handicap win in the Waikato Sprint at Te Rapa tomorrow.
Four of the last five winners of the Waikato Racing Club weight-for-age 1400m race have won the Telegraph at Trentham as a lead-up.
Mufhasa won the Telegraph in 2009 and last year before wins in the Waikato Sprint. Darci Brahma (2007) and Seachange (2008) have won the double.
Guiseppina, like Seachange, is a 5yr-old mare.
Mufhasa will attempt to succeed where others have failed by winning the race for the third time and as a 7yr-old.
Courier Bay has come closest to winning the race three times since it was first staged 35 years ago. He won in 1987-88 and finished second to Poetic Prince in 1989.
Sedecrem, who won in 2004-05, finished fifth as a 7yr-old in 2006.
Sunline (2001-02) is the other dual winner. No horse older than 6 has won the event.
Mufhasa won in 2009 and last year. He finished third to Tavistock and Wealth Princess in 2010. The winner of eight group one races, he has not raced since December 3 when he won the wfa Captain Cook Stakes (1600m) at Trentham.
James McDonald, the rider of Guiseppina, has top prospects in the other feature races tomorrow. He rides Zurella in the Sir Tristram Classic and Shez Sinsensational in the International Stakes.
• Charlotte Bellew rode her first winner, at Invercargill yesterday, a reward for perseverance.
Bellew (19) won on Sucre, trained by her father, Sean, the president of the Southland Racing Club.
Charlotte is apprenticed to her father. She served a probationary period with Riccarton trainer Shane Kennedy, but she was away from riding for some months after a fall in trackwork in October, 2010. She began race riding at Gore 12 days ago.
• Jillian Morris rode Anita Pea to win yesterday after a turn of events.
Chris Johnson was confirmed by stewards as the rider after a dual engagement inquiry. He was then unable to make the weight for Anita Pea. Johnson was fined $100 for the failure.
Daniel Bothamley was also fined $100 for failing to make the weight for his three mounts yesterday.
Lisa McKay was fined $100 for failing to weigh in for Peace who finished sixth in race 3.
• Trainer Peter Moody is keen to see Black Caviar finishing strongly at the end of the 1400m of the CF Orr Stakes at Caulfield tomorrow with a view to her trip to Royal Ascot, AAP reports.
Black Caviar, unbeaten in her 17 starts, has not raced beyond 1200m. Moody said he had every confidence she would manage the extra distance.
"I've always felt she'd be just as explosive out to 1400 metres and I've suggested even possibly a mile [1600m] so this is a step in that direction. I want to see her strong at the end of 1400 metres to give me a positive to going to the solid 1200s in England on those undulating tracks."
Moody confirmed that the major goal was the Golden Jubilee Stakes (1200m) at Royal Ascot in June. The Golden Shaheen (1200m) at Meydan on the Dubai World Cup card on March 31 was also a possibility.
Moody said he would fly to Dubai to look at the Tapeta surface at Meydan after Black Caviar runs in the Futurity Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on February 25, if he decided on the Dubai race.
Ajax posted 18 metropolitan wins from 1937 to 1939.
Gloaming and Desert Gold share the Australia and New Zealand record of 19 wins in a row.
