Rarely does a pacer who has been unplaced in two of his last three starts look as good a prospect as Hot And Treacherous does at Alexandra Park.
While driver Maurice McKendry is conservative when assessing his chances in tonight's main pace, the 4-year-old should be way too good for his opponents.
Hot And Treacherous has two seconds and two well-beaten runs in four starts this campaign but a closer look at his form reveals the huge class edge he has on his rivals.
He ran second fresh-up four starts ago to Old Town Road, whose efforts at Addington last week showed he is one of the best pacers in the country.
Hot And Treacherous then missed away from a 40-metre handicap and made ground late for sixth to Copy That over 2200m, and then a week later pushed the subsequent NZ Cup winner to a nose, albeit with a 20m start over him, in a sensational race at Cambridge.