Stephen McKee has a strong chance of picking up tomorrow's $250,000 The Trusts Charitable Thorndon Mile with class mares Culminate and Striker.
And he has an interesting yarn about both.
Culminate is having her first trip away from home and he had to bring Striker back home to
Ardmore after winning on the first day at Trentham because she hadn't done as well as he had hoped.
"But I don't think either of those things is going to be an issue," he said yesterday.
Culminate comes off her Rich Hill Mile win at Ellerslie and is starting to climb to an awkward, although not impossible, mark in the handicaps.
The 56kg may not look prohibitive on paper, but weights are relative and at level weights with Dezigna she faces a stern test.
Dezigna was a group one winner three starts back and is used to carrying big weights in handicaps.
Striker won the Anniversary Handicap last Saturday carrying 52kg and drops to 51kg for this, putting her in a strong position.
"I had intended leaving her down there for the week, but she did a but ordinary overnight there, so I decided to bring her home so she'd eat and drink all week and she has."
McKee says he can't split the two mares.
He rates grand old campaigner Sir Slick and Vosne Romanee the two to beat.
He has reason to think of Vosne Romanee after the Jeff Lynds' trained gelding flashed home from well back to finish a close-up second to McKee's Mufhasa in the Couplands Bakeries Mile at Riccarton in November.
It was a top class effort and Vosne Romanee was immediately set for tomorrow's group one race and has not raced since.
Solid support on TAB fixed odds is clear evidence the stable is confident.
Sir Slick came back from an Australian campaign to finish third in last week's Anniversary Handicap and McKee believes he could be harder to beat this time.
"He drops a kilo and if he can find some sort of improvement from that run he'll be hard to beat as a multiple group one winner. Dezigna is the only other group one winner in the field - and he's won one."
