Champion trainer Mark Purdon knows the further Jewels day progresses the harder it will get.
Purdon will unleash his traditional monster team at the Jewels, with 16 starters at tomorrow's $1.2 million meeting at Ashburton.
And while he has realistic winning chances in at least four races, he says his best is
early.
Lancome looks one of the bets of the day in the 4-year-old mares' race to open the programme, coming back from open-class racing to take on mainly lower-grade mares. And she has potent back-up in stablemate Secret Potion, who is just as clearly the second-best mare in the race, so it would be a huge upset if Purdon doesn't start the day with a win.
Purdon has an array of talent on show, from horses like Tatijana Bromac, who is flying but simply can't beat Carabella in race three, to Contador, who faces a similar problem in race six.
But after the initial Lancome buzz, Purdon still rates his chance highly in three more Jewels races.
He has a dominant hand in the 2-year-old fillies' pace where Veste is rated his best chance alongside O Baby and Dancing Diamonds.
Purdon has four in the male juvenile pace, including the two favourites, Fly Like An Eagle and Western Cullen, and he says it is hard to split the pair.
Major Mark (race seven) is also racing well but has drawn outside Gold Ace and Terror To Love so faces a huge challenge while the same could be said of rapid improver Escapee, who can win race two but has to claw past Flying Isa to do so.
And in the toughest race of the day Purdon has Russley Rascal, the one-time star of this crop, looking to regain some respect in the 4-year-old ranks.
