KEY POINTS:
So You is one of our topline emerging stayers and tomorrow's $100,000 Waikato Gold Cup would be the perfect time to prove it.
In keeping with the way our better stayers have been graduating lately, So You is stepping into the group two race without having previously raced
in open company.
But there has never been doubt she would measure up to this type of company.
So You should probably be going into this race with three straight wins. At Ellerslie last start she had 57.5kg, a tough weight for a mare to carry over a staying distance.
On a day when the pattern of racing suited on-pace runners she got back last on the rails and was standing the leaders at least 10 lengths on the home bend. She motored home along the rails to finish second, 1.25 lengths from the winner, Ceejay.
There are so many positives around So You for this race.
She is a course winner at Te Rapa - always a comforting statistic - she drops to a much more comfortable 53kg and the way this race should be run she should be able to get to the outside to make her finishing burst, which seems to suit her best.
Michael Coleman has stuck with the Cambridge mare right through and will be in the saddle tomorrow.
Trainer Paul Duncan is delighted with the mare's training since her Ellerslie effort. "She's in very good order," he said.
The outside barrier draw at the 2400m has absolutely no relevance, it will simply mean that Coleman, if he wishes, should be able to keep So You one width off the rail instead of being locked away inside horses as she was committed to being at Ellerslie.
Three Chimneys will probably start favourite. He has the right sort of form background, having finished third to County Tyrone in the Sydney Cup in the autumn.
He surprised a few by being ready enough to win the Wanganui Cup last start at only his second appearance back this campaign. He was impressive in that winning rider Hayden Tinsley had merely to show him the whip to get him past a wall of horses late in the race.
With further improvement and the step up in distance from 2000m to 2400m, Three Chimneys looks well suited.
In keeping with So You stepping up in her first open company appearance, Mirkola Lass did that last start in the Avondale Cup and went within three-quarters of a length of pulling off a giant-sized upset.
Mirkola Lass worked home nicely along the inside rail at Avondale and although only fifth, she was just three-quarters of a length from the winner Sharvasti.
That was no fluke - Mirkola Lass is a staying mare of real promise and in a field that lacks an enormous depth she has to be accorded a real chance tomorrow.
Arthur Pendragon is yet another emerging stayer with only 12 race starts behind him. He ran in the same race as So You at Ellerslie last start and was alongside the Cambridge mare at the tail of the field on the home bend.
Where So You came home along the rail, Arthur Pendragon switched to the outside to flash home and only a short head separated the pair at the finish.
Little might separate them tomorrow based solely on those performances, what does stand them apart is the relative weights this time.
So You drops 4.5kg from 57.5kg to 53kg and Arthur Pendragon comes down only .5kg from 53.5kg to 53kg. At the end of a tough 2400m, a 4kg weight differential is enormous.
Mac Five, Envoy and Bak De Chief all have claims.
