Racing: Speedsters ready to roll

You'd fancy the chance of the Rotorua 1200m track record going off tomorrow.

The speed involved in the $70,000 Lion Red Plate is red hot.

Mi Jubilee, Manten, Solvini - they alone are capable of creating a scenario to eclipse the 26-year-old track record of 1.9.70 set by class mare Silver Nymph.

Add to the mix Railway winner Baldessarini and impressive first-up winner Devoted and we're about to see a 1200m dash to remember.

The likely race plan could well play into the hands of Baldessarini and, to a lesser extent, Devoted.

Both are likely to be camped right behind the pace and will be perfectly positioned to pounce when the speed starts to tell on the leaders and things get tough at the 200m.

Baldessarini has not raced since finishing sixth after a rocky run to Gee I Jane in the group one Telegraph Handicap at Trentham in January.

That run followed his remarkable Railway victory at Ellerslie where he sat three wide outside the pace after coming out of the outside barrier.

Baldessarini has been in work a long time with trainer Anne Herbert waiting for the right race and the right conditions.

A 1200m weight-for-age race from an inside draw could not be better.

Herbert is not the sort to get confident, but there is an air of expectation around her this time, despite the depth of the opposition.

"He's going to be hard to beat," she said yesterday.

"He had a gallop between races at Matamata last week. Lisa (Cropp) was at Hastings and Catherine Treymane said the horse felt awesome. She said he was relaxed and was ready to go whenever she asked him."

Which is important, because as fit as the outstanding sprinter might be on trackwork and barrier trials, there will still be another level to get to and the last thing a trainer wants to see is a horse pulling hard when resuming.

What is certain to be an electric pace will help and Herbert is relaxed that Baldessarini will race kindly.

"I'm as confident as I can be that he'll settle and not pull."

A win here is important to the stable - Baldessarini is competing for an invitation to the Hong Kong Sprint in December along with fellow group one winner Gee I Jane.

"I don't know, but I'd say we'd have to win this and even then we'll probably have to go to Australia," said Herbert.

Plans are for Gee I Jane to compete in Australia without racing here.

Trainer Stephen Autridge believes in-form Manten does not have to lead, despite making all the pace in his two winning performances this preparation.

"Last season we rode him in behind quite a few times and we were satisfied with his efforts," Autridge said.

"He was slow away and led at Hastings last start, but we'd told Opie (Bosson) to take him to the front and you saw what he did, he won well.

"He can be a bit tricky and he's an easier horse to ride when he's in front, but over 1200m with the pace on in this race he should be fine if he drops in behind."

Jim Gibbs has done a wonderful job to get Devoted back to his best after an 'off' year.

"He missed the start in the Concorde last year and had a very hard race afterwards and wasn't the same horse after that," said Gibbs.

Devoted looked big, strong and ready when paraded fresh from a spell at Ellerslie two weeks ago. He won well and is likely to be even fitter this time.

Devoted can hit the last 150m very hard and it's likely to be that sort of horse that will lift this race.

Mi Jubilee is the horse Devoted fought a home-straight battle with at Ellerslie. She had to work to get the lead from an awkward wide barrier that day and showed tremendous heart to go under by only a long neck after being attacked a long way from the finish.

Don't turn up late to watch this race - it won't take long to complete.