KEY POINTS:
Tosti Girl faces one major hurdle when she returns to the track tonight - her own appetite.
The dual Oaks winner starts her 4-year-old season in the Golden Sun Mobile and at her peak she would be an unbackable favourite.
But there appears little chance she will be anywhere near her best as she has not raced since March 10 and has spent most of her time since then indulging in her favourite hobby - eating.
Tosti Girl looked on target to be New Zealand filly of the year last season after she won the Great Northern and New South Wales Oaks.
But soon after she contracted a virus which robbed her of the chance to go head to head with arch-rival Western Dream in the Addington races which eventually gifted the title to the latter.
While on the sidelines Tosti Girl also needed a check ligament operation and spent two months boxed, with her maximum exercise walking one lap of trainer Brian Hughes' training track.
"The worst part with her was that she has always been a very good eater and just because you aren't working them you can't stop feeding them," explains Hughes.
"So by the time we could get serious with her again she was pretty fat."
Tosti Girl has had three workouts to try and trim that waistline but the latest was won in a pedestrian 2:52 for 2200m mobile, about 7s slower than she will have to pace to win tonight.
So Hughes is realistic rather than confident heading into tonight's fourth leg of the $100,000 Pick6.
"I am not saying she can't win because she is a very good mare but I think she will need a race or two before we see her back to her best," he admits.
"Maybe from the draw she can settle handy but I'd be surprised if Brent drove her too hard."
Tosti Girl's main aim is the $100,000 Queen Of Hearts at Alexandra Park on December 22 while long-term the $200,000 Harness Jewels looks an ideal chance for some revenge on Western Dream.
Adding to Tosti Girl's problems tonight is the fact that there is plenty of gate speed on the front line of the 2200m and some race hardened opponents like Ready For Battle off the second line, so the race should be run at a steady tempo.
While Tosti Girl returns tonight Hughes's other superstar mare Alta Serena has still not resumed trackwork after a fractured pedal bone ruined her spring racing campaign.
Last season's New Zealand and Auckland Cup runner-up was sidelined in September and her only exercise since has been in the swimming pool.
"At the moment she is more chance of winning a gold medal for swimming than she is a horse race," said Hughes.
"The good news is we have had her x-rayed and the break seems to have healed well but we won't really know until she's had pressure put on it."
Alta Serena is expected to start jogging in two weeks and Hughes is still hopeful she can make it to the Auckland Cup in March.
"I'd love to see her win a race like that to cap her career but really she has nothing left to prove," said Hughes.
Hughes rates maiden Palomine, who lines up in the last leg of Pick6 tonight, as a horse to follow over the summer.
