KEY POINTS:
There is a very good reason Steven Reid's stable star Monkey King isn't in today's $80,000 Franklin Cup.
It is his stablemate, Baileys Dream.
Reid could have been going into today's 3200m event at Alexandra Park with two chances in the small field but decided not to nominate Monkey King.
The speed machine suffered a minor setback recently and missed some work but Reid admits when he saw the small nominations for today's race he thought of putting him in.
"But then I thought about Bailey and realised I didn't need to," said Reid.
"If I didn't have Bailey in the race then I would have thrown Monkey in for sure, because while he may not be 100 per cent ready for 3200m he still would have gone close in this field.
"But to be honest, the way Bailey has improved since his last start I think we have the horse to beat in the race so I didn't bother throwing Monkey in."
Reid knows Baileys Dream is not as potent at Alexandra Park as at Addington, where he flies around the sweeping bends, instead of slightly hanging at Alexandra Park.
But that should be negated by there, disappointingly, being only six starters in today's race, greatly reducing the chances Baileys Dream will be trapped wide.
"In a bigger field the track may be more of a concern but I can see them being in single file for quite a while and I would be happy to see Bailey go forward and lead.
"He has improved a lot since his last start and I couldn't be happier with where he is at."
Baileys Dream fought on for fourth in the Manukau Summer Cup last start but that was after being forced to sit parked and the winner of that race, Awesome Armbro, is absent today.
Once the small field settles, regular driver Ricky May will have the opportunity and the speed to make his own luck and Baileys Dream has been racing best of this field this season.
With any luck, he should win.
Small fields can become very tactical though and if the race develops that way Report For Duty looks the each-way value.
He has improved since joining the Butt-Anderson stable and should settle handy without having to use any energy.
From there, he could be perfectly positioned to pounce late for the trainers whose record in major Cups is remarkable.
At his peak Sly Flyin would be beautifully placed today but he has missed some vital work lately and that could force driver Tony Herlihy to be conservative with the wonderful veteran.
The remaining three all have winning chances but in very different ways, with Power Of Tara the most likely to get the right sort of run, possibly as the leader for much of the race.
