Crossyourheart (Leith Innes) leaving her sprint rivals in her wake at Te Rapa earlier in the year. Her resumption from a bleeding attack adds great interest to today's Avondale card.
Today's Avondale meeting is so far removed from what we've been seeing in midweek racing it's out of sight.
In fact, two runners in the modest $9000 First Sovereign Trust 1200 are possible candidates for the country's top sprint, the group one Railway at Ellerslie.
Last season's glamour
2-year-old filly Crossyourheart comes back to racing after suffering a serious lung bleed in the Duke Of Bedford Matamata Breeders Stakes in February.
Actually, there is no such thing as a non-serious lung bleed.
Not because of what such an ailment can do to a horse physically on the day of the problem, but how it threatens that horse's career.
In Australia and New Zealand, horses that bleed a second time during a race have a lifetime ban placed on them.
Many go to the United States to race successfully on the anti-bleeding agent Lasix, a banned raceday substance here.
Crossyourheart looked spectacular winning all four of her starts before bleeding at Matamata and nicely won a recent barrier trial at Cambridge.
"I'm just hoping she runs a nice race and gets through it without any issues," said co-trainer Richard Collett, who is careful not to build his hopes too high that Crossyourheart will remain problem-free.
"I'm not being negative, but I'm realistic enough to know that horses that have bled often bleed a second time," he said.
"Veterinary science has a lot of ideas and theories on horses bleeding, but the reality is that no one has come up with anything that can prevent it."
Even if horses don't bleed a second time, a significant percentage fail to recover their best form.
Many believe it is because the horse remembers the pain of the first bleeding attack and will not push itself too hard.
Brianna adds a further huge slice of talent to this field in her reappearance after a six-month break.
Don Sellwood is aiming her towards the Railway if her form justifies it.
It's an important statistic that Brianna is unbeaten in three starts at Avondale.
Tachus is another who could sprint well fresh.
