Ruakaka is set to be the surprise winner in the battle to host New Zealand's first glamour race of the new thoroughbred season with a star-studded line-up heading north this Saturday.
The new racing season for the galloping code starts today and usually the first serious flat race would be the $100,000 Winter Cup at Riccarton, which will still draw a quality winter field of milers this week.
But the biggest names racing this week will be heading to a mere $35,000 open sprint at Ruakaka as their trainers look for the closest thing resembling a good winter surface.
That could see group one heroines Entriviere and Imperatriz clash with Karaka Million-winning stablemate On The Bubbles and former age group star Dragon Leap in a very rare super sprint for the first Saturday of the season.
Trainer Mark Walker was originally going to trial his outstanding mares Imperatriz and Entriviere twice before aiming them at the Foxbridge Plate at Te Rapa on August 27 but decided Imperatriz didn't need another trial after she cruised at an effortless win at the recent Cambridge synthetic trials.