KEY POINTS:
Sir Slick has to carry 60.5kg from a wide draw tomorrow.
Graeme Nicholson says Sir Slick has a mind of his own.
Which is why the big-winning glamour galloper is running in tomorrow's $100,000 Merial Metric Mile at Awapuni.
It's hardly a suitable race - as a handicap Sir Slick is required to lump a huge 60.5kg and a wide barrier makes that task much more difficult.
But Nicholson says the race is crucial if Sir Slick is to be at his best for the $2 million Kelt Capital Stakes.
The 1400m Mudgway Partsworld Stakes two weeks ago was of no use to Sir Slick's fitness levels.
"He just wouldn't try in that race. He doesn't like the helter-skelter of 1400m races and when Slick doesn't want to do something he doesn't.
"He didn't pull up blowing or anything - it was obvious to me he just switched off."
As much as tomorrow's race is hardly ideal as a one-off attempt to win a major race, the trip away from home and the 1600m will have the star closer to where his trainer needs him to be physically.
"He'll appreciate the 1600m much more, but it's going to be hard for him with the weight and the draw."
It didn't greatly surprise Nicholson that Sir Slick was not competitive in the Mudgway.
"For the last four years he's kicked off with a 1400m race in the spring and he's never done any good," he said.
"From that point on each time he's kept getting better."
Last year Sir Slick began his campaign by finishing last of 13 runners, 10 lengths behind Seachange in the Mudgway before finishing third in the Merial Mile a long head and two and three-quarter lengths from Floydeboy and Mikki Street.
He carried 55.5kg that day.
"He's fitter now than he was at the same stage last year," says Nicholson.
He will need to be because the extra 5kg this time is a huge rise at this level.
Floydeboy's 57kg is 2kg more than he carried to victory a year ago. He subsequently won the group one Champions Mile at Ellerslie.
The toughest to beat could be Bonjour.
He was never a chance when caught on the inside in wet conditions at Otaki when resuming and will strip fitter again for his mid-field placing behind Seachange in the weight-for-age Mudgway Stakes.
He carried 59kg in that race, finished only 3.8 lengths away and is much better placed here with 55kg.
Bonjour is a relative newcomer to the top grade and he showed he was right up to it when flashing home for third behind Sir Slick and Pins'N' Needles in the group one Thorndon Mile at Trentham in January. He was spelled immediately after that race.
Samurai has always looked top class and is currently in career-best form, winning two of his last three starts this preparation.
He was an attractive fourth behind Lord Monty in the Winter Cup at Riccarton. He looks nicely placed with 56kg in a race where Sir Slick has compressed the top of the handicap.
Even with 57kg Floydeboy has to rate a big chance on a track he has shown a liking for.
