Starting a new campaign off a 30m back mark in a fast race at Alexandra Park is rarely a recipe for success.
Unless you are superstar trotter Bolt For Brilliance in the $20,000 Trot tomorrow night, the second leg of a feature race double which starts with the pacers in the Holmes D G.
For all the talent of horses such as Hot And Treacherous and Old Town Road in the pacing feature, the star of the night should be Bolt For Brilliance who smashed his opposition, including Sundees Son, in the Rowe Cup last time he strolled on to Alexandra Park in Auckland.
Even for a horse who has won two Harness Jewels, that performance in May was a career high and suggests under the right circumstances Bolt For Brilliance could ascend to be the best trotter in Australasia in the next year.
He looked forward when not pushed to finish second to Hot And Treacherous in fast time at the Pukekohe trials recently and trainer-driver Tony Herlihy was so impressed he didn't feel the need to take him back to the trials last weekend.