KEY POINTS:
Hugely talented Queensland jockey Stathi Katsidis reckons he's this week done one of the smartest things of his life - come to New Zealand for the first time.
The 28-year-old says it will be the springboard to propel his career to the next level.
Katsidis is considered Queensland's best jockey - he won the 2005 and 2004 premierships - but the road has often been volatile.
He now realises boredom was standing in his way.
Being called here by the Logan/Gibbs stable to ride Keepem in today's $700,000 Mercedes Derby at Ellerslie has given him a different focus.
"I've been bored riding around the Queensland tracks," he said as he walked the Ellerslie track late yesterday getting advice on how to ride New Zealand's premier racetrack from former jockey Bob Vance.
It was good advice - Vance holds the record of four winning Derby rides.
There is enthusiasm in Katsidis' delivery when he says he's staying for the entire Ellerslie carnival.
He's vibrant and clearly thrives on adrenalin.
"Now I've finally come over here I want to make international group one racing my focus.
"There's good horses and good trainers here and I've got rides for people like Roger James over the meeting.
"I want to maintain those contacts for when horses come to Queensland for the carnival."
Weight has often been an issue.
He was concentrating a little on his brother Michael's successful recent fight in London which has earned him a shot at the world lightweight title.
And after a virus put him in hospital in Queensland 10 days ago, he was 58kg when he arrived in Auckland on Tuesday.
Donna Logan has had the job of managing the wasting.
Katsidis rode three horses at the carnival gallops at Ellerslie on Tuesday morning then headed north to Logan's Ruakaka base where he was made to fish for his dinner.
"I even hid the scallops in the freezer," said Logan.
"I've had him milking cows on one of my owner's farms."
Katsidis has loved it.
"Everything's new - it's exciting.
"My fitness is good, by the time I ride in the Derby not a single stone will be left unturned."
Which brings us to the Ellerslie walk with Vance.
"The jockeys I'll be riding against will have ridden around Ellerslie a thousand times.
"I've got to try and do in a few days what they've been doing for years."
There is plenty to learn. Because of its undulating, turning nature, Ellerslie is a track on which top riders - and those who know it well - thrive.
"Caulfield is a turning track and Sandown has a decent rise, but I can't think of a track that is overall as undulating as Ellerslie," says Vance, one of racing's great tacticians.
Vance counselled Katsidis about being caught wide on the sharp bend out of the home straight with a round to travel.
"It's not only uphill into it then sharp, you start running downhill immediately.
"If you get caught wide there you get thrown off the track."
Vance's Derby winners were Uncle Remus, Isle Of Man, I'm Henry and The Phantom Chance.
At 16 he says he was too young to appreciate the moment on a champion like Uncle Remus.
"He just went out each time and won. My biggest issue was calculating how much money I was going to get every time I went out to ride him.
"The Phantom Chance was the most satisfying because Kaaptive Edition headed me halfway down the home straight and my horse ground back and beat him."
For weight loss and fitness Katsidis will run the Ellerslie course three times this morning.
Keepem was yesterday quoted as a $16 chance.
Win, lose or draw the Queenslander says he'll be thrilled.
"Coming here is just what I've needed."
* Vance's Derby tip: Sydney colt Redoute's Dancer.
"I can't see how they can beat him."
