"Yeah, the record's on the board, I suppose," says Kawi's trainer, Allan Sharrock, of the first of the New Zealand Spring Racing Carnival group one trilogy in Hastings.
"He's there to be knocked because he's a good horse," says Sharrock. "He's got the will to win, mate. He's got a bit of tenacity and he's a tough hombre and he's had a few fights in his life to win six group ones so he's a pretty good horse."
Kawi is sitting among the class of Starcraft (2004) and Seachange (twice in 2006-07).
The gelding won the first two legs, including the 100m Windsor Park Plate, last year but, amid a bolshy declaration from a representative of horse owners, the idea of a $250,000 sweetener was mooted as incentive to return for the final leg, the Livamol Classic.
Kawi will line up in the Windsor Plate on Saturday, September 23, but nailing the trilogy with the 2000m Livamol Classic on Saturday, October 7, is out of the question this year.
"I reserve the right to run the 2000m - he'll just run the first two," says Sharrock after Kawi and Innes got themselves out of a pickle in last year's Windsor Park Plate, when they got flushed very wide without cover, to lend credence to the bookies' favouritism.
Kawi was last spring transported to Perth, Australia, where champion Kiwi jockey Michael Walker rode him in the group two Lee Steere Stakes on November 5 (fourth place), and the group one double of the $1m Railway Stakes at Ascot racecourse over 1600m on November 19 (sixth) and the $1m weight-for-age Kingston Town Classic over 1800m in on December 3 (fourth).
"He paid his way back but it never went right for us. I can't really put my finger on it, to be honest, but you live and learn and it was worth the fight."
Sharrock reconciles the experience across the ditch with a group one victory in Otaki in February on his return "so it wasn't a complete loss".
However, he isn't entertaining any thoughts about racing Kawi over a stayer's distance.
"I won't run him over 2000m again [because] he's always had a respiratory problem and he struggles to find the gears over 2000m."
The New Plymouth trainer says after the first two spring races Kawi will be put out on the paddock.
"I don't think anyone has ever done it [won the trilogy in a season] before. His first up was a very, very good win, to be honest," says Sharrock of the champion horse who can give him super trainer status here if he nails the two group one races again.
"That's very hard to do."
Luck plays a big part, he attests, in a field that boasts eight group one winners.
He says the switch from Innes to Waddell is the syndicate's decision.
"I've had a great rapport with Leith and he's a special friend of mine but I think he [Kawi] settles well with Jason Waddell so if I've made the wrong call only time will tell."
Both, he emphasises are class riders, so it clearly came down to who the horse found an affinity with better.
So who is likely to kick dirt into the Kawi's face?
If what the pundits are saying is true then it's no hombre - it's a sassy mujer. The Graham Richardson and Gavin Parker-trained Volpe Veloce has been strutting her stuff leading up to today.
The Matamata-based, all-Australian 4-year-old Foxwedge-sired Bay mare, out of Badego, has eight first placings from nine starts in races for 3-year-olds since 2015-16.
"She's the up and comer and she's the favourite," says Sharrock as bookies have caught the yips and stopped punters from placing anymore bets on her. "She's the unknown in the race but she's not with the little girls any more."
The Matamata co-trainers have already bracketed Volpe Veloce for the Windsor Plate.
"You see, if they eyeball each other it'll be interesting to see who comes out of it better," he says. "She's up with the big boys now but, maybe, she may be that good so who knows and we'll know on Saturday."
Sharrock will be tabling his offerings on the altar of the rain gods to ensure rain will not dictate terms today although the forecast is ominous - 13C with occasional rain creeping in in the morning but heavy falls taking over amid southwesterlies in the afternoon.
"I prefer it not to come but a little bit of it won't affect him too much although in his last start he coped satisfactorily . It won't get too bad, I think, with most of the rain coming on Sunday, hopefully."
That's about all Hawke's Bay Racing general manager Andrew Castles wants.
"Write up good weather for Saturday," says Castles, before revealing one can only control the controllables in life.
