Racing: Showdown for WFA crown

The title of weight-for-age supremo will be up for grabs when Red Ruler and Vosne Romanee clash in the Skycity New Zealand Stakes at Ellerslie tomorrow.

Red Ruler comes into the group one feature chasing his fourth win on end, while Vosne Romanee will be out to reaffirm the superiority established by his Kelt Capital Stakes win and his defeat of Red Ruler in the Zabeel Classic at Ellerslie on Boxing Day.

Red Ruler was absent, campaigning unsuccessfully in Melbourne, when Vosne Romanee upset his more favoured opposition in the Kelt at Hastings in October.

At the end of December, they went head-to-head in the first leg of the Ellerslie middle-distance weight-for-age double, the honours going Vosne Romanee's way with a dominant final sprint.

That apart, the most significant aspect of the result was that Red Ruler was on his way back to the form he had shown as a three and 4-year-old.

Six days later, he went one better with a hugely impressive City of Auckland Cup victory and later in January took that form to Trentham for a Trentham Stakes-Wellington Cup double.

Vosne Romanee meanwhile was resting up from his Boxing Day win and reappeared at Otaki late last month for a solid fourth to a resurgent Mufhasa.

That preparation replicates his lead-in to the Zabeel Classic and it's a safe bet that his astute Manawatu trainer Jeff Lynds will have him at peak when the flag goes up tomorrow afternoon.

Fitness - or more the lack of it - is the query around Red Ruler in his first start since the Wellington Cup on January 30. But ask trainer John Sargent how he sees it, and he's relaxed in his belief that his stable star is up to the task.

"He's really turned things around the last couple of months and is right on top of his game," Sargent said. "Part of that means he only has to look at food to put weight on - a bit like his trainer you could say - but I've been able to keep the work up to him.

"He had that good hitout between races at the local meeting a couple of weeks ago and his work this week has been right up there. On Tuesday, I gave him a mate to chase and his last bit of work by himself on Thursday would have helped too.

"Even if he does front up a bit below peak I think he can still do it."

The arguments around Red Ruler and Vosne Romanee don't discount several other distinct prospects.

At the top of that list are Boundless, last year's winner MacO'Reilly, Darci Brahma Stakes quinella pair Veloce Bella and Tell A Tale, and highly rated South Islander Hold It Harvey.

Boundless should be cherry-ripe for the step up to 2000m after she returned from an early summer break to win over 1600m at Ellerslie three weeks ago.

Probably the best part of that performance was the demeanour displayed by the mare. In contrast to the crankiness that undermined her spring campaign, she was the model of good behaviour, as good an indication as any that she has finally shaken off her niggly issues.