Racing: Flying Mile will get off to a thriller

Natalie Rasmussen driving Spankem.

Cambridge plays
Best bet: Mystic Max (R5, No9): Class 3yo who should overcome his 20m handicap with the race being 2700m.
Scratching helps: Hot And Treacherous (R9, No2): Not the best pacer in the big mile but might get the best run and loves Cambridge.
Improver: Upsize Me (R2, No2): Still learning so has broken last two starts but less pressure here.

The players in tonight's $50,000 Flying Mile at Cambridge have a common goal: they all want to be in the same place in the running.

That could make for a thrilling start to the next feature on the open-class pacing autumn tour.

Cambridge have managed to attract a strong field for the sprint, albeit reduced to seven by the scratching of Its All About Faith. But the race is a rarity in that almost every starter is best suited by leading or trailing.

We aren't talking small fry races here either, with Spankem having won a Miracle Mile in front, South Coast Arden a Harness Jewels and NZ Free-For-All and even outsider Mach Dan winning the Newcastle Mile five starts ago when able to lead.

With the preferential barrier draw meaning the best performed horses draw the widest, a disadvantage exaggerated by the short run to the first bend, those first five strides at the start of the race will be crucial.

If South Coast Arden (barrier six) or Spankem (seven) managed to cross their opponents and lead they would become the horses to beat but the same probably applies to A G's White Socks and Cranbourne, with the latter having had little luck in two starts in the north.

Champion trainer Mark Purdon sums up the dilemma facing those drivers wide on the track.

"Spankem is right back to his best with the two-week gap since the Messenger but I don't think I'd even try going forward from out there because it is such a fast front line," said Purdon. "A horse like Cranbourne would be really hard to beat if he led but then again so most would of them. I think the best we can hope for is a hot speed."

The $50,000 Flying Mile Trot a race earlier has the same equation to finding the winner but with fewer answers as either Muscle Mountain or Bolt For Brilliance should win.

They are outstanding trotters who have both beaten Sundees Son this year and whoever out of the pair settles in front of the other will almost certainly win, with Temporale possibly holding the key to that.