Racing: Cog Hill faces uphill task with topweight

Weight-wise Cog Hill is up against it at Te Rapa tomorrow.

The fine metric miler is in a 1400m and 1600m and either way is going to have to lump 60kg clear topweight.

If Richard Collett and Shane Hapeta decide on the 1400m, the Munns The Man's Story Handicap, the task looks near impossible.

Royal Entertainer and Devoted, the other two real class horses in the field, are both claiming big allowances.

Daniel Hain takes 2kg off Royal Entertainer's 54.5kg and his sister Cherie, having her first raceday ride, pulls a whopping 4kg from Devoted's 55kg.

It means Cog Hill will concede Devoted 9kg and have to race on a slow surface which will better suit Devoted.

Jim Gibbs eased Devoted when he turned in a very ordinary effort at Ellerslie on March 11.

"I believe he hadn't come back after he had such a tough run in the Concorde at Avondale.

"He badly missed the start that day and he ended up running sixth in a 1.8 1200m. It took the stuffing out of him."

There are no real plans for Devoted, Gibbs deciding to allow the talented chestnut to have a couple of more starts as an opportunity to blood his new apprentice Cherie Hain and to claim 4kg.

"He'll benefit from the run, but he's well and he'll be competitive.

"He doesn't mind a bit of give in the ground so that shouldn't worry him."

The sparingly raced Royal Entertainer comes in fresh from a break and has shown he needs little racing to show form.

He is likely to head to the Queensland winter carnival.

The Te Rapa track yesterday was rated slow. If there was further rain Caballos could come into the trifecta.

Cog Hill faces a mixed field in the Tommos Pizza 1600.

Avaroadi has been backed and beaten a couple of times lately, but they haven't been bad runs. He is a dual winner at Te Rapa and this could see him break through again.