Racing: O'Sullivan's Temple Hills has tough act to follow

Temple Hills has a bit lodged on his shoulders for his Easter Handicap bid.

His trainer Lance O'Sullivan won the race three times in the saddle with Eastern Joy (1985), Moss Downs (1997) and Honor Bound in 2002.

Then last year O'Sullivan produced his first horse into the Easter as a trainer and won with Calveen.

That's a difficult act to follow.

But Temple Hills is one of the better emerging metric milers and he has been set specifically for this race.

He gets no demerit points for his minor placing in the Japan/NZ International at Tauranga last start. In fact, he gained even more admirers for this race in the way he stuck to his task when clearly unable to gain momentum on a track that offered shocking footing after heavy rain.

"He doesn't mind some give in the ground, but that track didn't allow them to quicken and it worked against him," said O'Sullivan. "He'll be far happier in the conditions this week.

"It's his first time against the big boys, but he's pleased us with the way he's come on since Tauranga."

O'Sullivan rates Viennetta. "On her effort at Te Aroha last week she has to be very hard to beat."

The 51.5kg Temple Hills has to carry is a massive plus in a race where weight should matter late in the race.