Percentages count at the Group 1 level Imperatriz and La Crique will be striving to operate at in Saturday's $300,000 Plate feature at Matamata.
The two mares, Imperatriz more proven but La Crique something special, dominate the market on the rescheduled feature, and with Matamata promising firmer footing than the last time they met, they should be too fast for their older male rivals.
Drawn next to each other at barriers two and three, neither can afford to give the other too much of a start and even one rival getting between them could make a crucial difference.
That is why the start of the race could be so important, as Imperatriz has on occasions been awkwardly away, and Opie Bosson copped a ribbing from fellow jockey Michael McNab on the way home from the Ruakaka races on Wednesday that he couldn't get Imperatriz out of the gates as smoothly as McNab did when winning a Group 1 on her last season.
An even start is the first thing Bosson and Imperatriz need to get right.