KEY POINTS:
The shock scratching of Runnin Outa Excuses has promoted Mr Molly to red-hot favourite for the $30,000 4-Year-Old Championship at Forbury Park tonight.
The exciting pair were to renew their rivalry from the 20m backmark in the feature until Runnin Outa Excuses was withdrawn yesterday.
That still leaves his trainer Kirk Larsen with one rep, Mister Barnett, in the race but he will be flat holding out Mr Molly.
The latter is back to his best of last season, which culminated in him finishing second to Changeover in the Harness Jewels at Addington.
Mr Molly may have started this season in disappointing form but trainer Ben Waldron put that down to constant foot problems.
It took him until December to get over those and since then his form has blossomed.
He was a convincing winner at Ashburton on Boxing Day and backed that up with even more impressive wins at Nelson and Marlborough, the latter against some of the best 4-year-olds in the south.
Those most recent wins suggest he wont be out of place in the age group features which lie ahead at Alexandra Park before the Harness Jewels at Cambridge on May 31.
While Mr Molly faces the 20m backmark, that is somewhat negated by the small field and his good standing start manners. If he steps as quickly as he can he will latch on to the back of the field and then driver Ricky May has options to go forward or try and outsprint his rivals.
While the pair will start hot favourites, May will not be getting overly confident. Last year he drove superstar pacer Monkey King in this race and tasted defeat.
Mister Barnett has been in outstanding form in lower grade races in the deep South recently and at least gives trainer Larsen some hand in the race.
But a better chance could be in-form Charles Bronson, with the aid of a front line draw. He has been racing well behind The Gigolo on the country cups circuit.
