KEY POINTS:
Tomorrow's $65,000 Wealleans Matamata Cup is a puzzle with many pieces.
Like will smart local Run Like Al start?
And if he does, will he handle the track conditions if they don't come back to dead?
Can former Hong Kong galloper Izzat regain his best Asian form?
If Pindy gets better luck than he struck at Te Rapa last week will he bounce back to his form?
And will the staying-orientated Kaatoon have sufficient dash to win at 1600m?
We won't know about Run Like Al until tomorrow morning and everything will depend on the state of the track.
After finishing 4.5 lengths from Princess Coup in the $250,000 Stoney Bridge Stakes after looping the field, Run Like Al is entitled to huge respect in a field that is useful, but down in class from the Hastings feature.
"He's really trained on since the Stoney Bridge," said his trainer Paul Moroney yesterday.
"He's dropping back in class and on his group one form he should be very hard to beat.
"The reservation is the track. He's got a win to his name on a heavy track, but doesn't really like it. He's much better when it's good.
"We're confident he'll run well, but with a weather watch.
"We've never won the local Matamata Cup, so obviously that would be great, but we're not locked into running him on a track that doesn't suit.
"We might sit and wait for the Captain Cook Stakes at Trentham if the track doesn't improve."
Pindy is unbeaten on his home track at Matamata.
Everything went wrong when he finished 11th at Te Rapa and although he doesn't need it to be heavy, he would be better on a track with more moisture in it.
Tomorrow should be perfect for him.
The Andrew Scott stable sent Izzat to Hastings last week in the faint hope of a late scratching which would have allowed them a start in the $2 million Kelt Capital Stakes.
As we know that didn't happen and this race is seen as a consolation.
On his best Hong Kong form, Izzat would beat this field. He failed to show up in his first start back in New Zealand six weeks ago, but that was his first race in seven months.
