He has won only once in four starts this season but co-trainer Danny Walker said he is far from disappointed with last season’s 2000 Guineas hero.
“The numbers really haven’t been on our side this campaign,” said Walker.
“Two starts ago he was good but because it was a handicap he had to concede Luberon [a rival today] 7kg and you can’t do that at this level.
“Then last start he chased hard behind Babylon Berlin when she walked then sprinted hard in the Concorde and we just couldn’t make up the ground with those sectionals.
“So while he has had some key numbers against him he is going well and this week looks more suitable.
“After he ran third in the Concorde I thought to myself he is racing like a Telegraph horse.”
Walker was initially concerned by barrier one because, while Crocetti is fast out of the gates, he would almost certainly have been crossed by Babylon Berlin and that would have increased his chances of traffic concerns, especially in such an even field.
With the flying mare out of the race, jockey Warren Kennedy should have a far better chance of holding the lead on Crocetti should he want as, while the race is one of our premier sprints, it oddly doesn’t possess many natural frontrunners.
Bonny Lass is one who will head forward and she beat Crocetti after crossing him early in the BCD Sprint at Te Rapa last February.
While she may not be racing in that form now, Crocetti might not be either - but if he holds the fence he will take plenty of running down, hence the market move.
Who wins the great race could come down to track conditions, with rain forecast for Saturday morning, as well as which one of the high-class speedsters peaks today, with sprinters being a volatile bunch who don’t need a lot to put them off their game.
On a drier surface, Grail Seeker and Luberon look the biggest dangers while Skew Wiff would appreciate sitting just off the speed and unleashing a short, sharp sprint but that is rarely a Telegraph-winning recipe.
Waitak is the sort of wind-up galloper who could be flying late and his connections believe any easing in the track won’t bother him so he could add today’s Group 1 to the Railway he won in dazzling fashion at Pukekohe 369 days ago.
The Lincoln Farms Marton Cup is today’s staying feature and the two mares Sassy Lass and Magnifique look well placed at the weights and with two of our best jockeys on them in Kennedy and Michael McNab.
While Trentham is today’s main meeting there will be plenty of interest in the opening race on a quieter Te Aroha programme.
The juvenile sprint has already seen a huge plunge on the unraced Tale Of The Gypsy, who was opened at $9 by the TAB bookies but immediately backed into $3.20 and was $3 yesterday with indications she may start shorter.
The Stephen Marsh-trained filly has never even had an official trial but is being touted by some as a Karaka Million bolter and has in-form jockey George Rooke in the saddle so will have plenty of eyeballs on her today.
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.
