Interestingly Von Tunzelman's rider Leith Innes was aboard Five To Midnight last start when the combination finished third to Zacada in the Avondale Cup at Ellerslie. Hugh Bowman climbs on Five To Midnight this time. Little appears to separate the pair and it may come down to the 1.5kg Von Tunzelman receives from the CD stayer.
Charles Road is a real player here. He produced a massive effort to just about win the Rich Hill Mile then seemed to appreciate the step out to 2100m when narrowly beaten here last start. He seems to have a few tricks, but Jake Bayliss has him worked out and with 53kg he looms as the danger to those further up the handicap.
Gobstopper needed his run when fading late at Awapuni last start, his first start since his remarkable win in the New Zealand Cup. Trainer Andrew Campbell has aimed the son of Tavistock at this race and at 54kg he looks pretty well placed in the handicap. Diesel and Symphonic look the best of the others on 53kg.
Being so honest, Benzini will always attract followers, but he looks up against it in the handicap. He was well off at Trentham last start under 55kg, but has 60kg here. He was 1.4 lengths behind Von Tunzelman at Trentham last start and meets that horse 3.5kg worse this time.
• Back to Embellish in the Karaka Million 3YO Classic, he will wear blinkers for the first time today and that should be a big assist. Take little notice of his failure here last start, he got back last and had to cover too much extra ground. He was still making ground strongly and if you ran the race again six times he would win at least four of them.
There is plenty of opposition, southerner Savvy Coup is right in it from a low draw and Kapoor, about to burst into the headlines after a run of seconds, will be a tough opponent.
Contessa Vanessa has the right barrier and Jake Bayliss will be thinking hard how to overcome On The Rocks' gate No 14. And then there is Chris Waller's Sydney runner Scream Park. It looks like Embellish, but behind him it's anyone's guess.
• The $70,000 Brighthill Farm Concorde (race 2) is probably today's toughest race facing punters. Barrier draws cloud the issue and so does the fact three of the favourites, Enzo's Lad, Ferrando and Passing Shot all had hard runs in last week's Group 1 Telegraph, finishing 1st, 3rd and 4th. We could be totally wrong, but we are going to take a risk and go for fresh runners.
Fully Funded has a few things against him with 59kg from barrier No 13, but he has huge early speed plus the strength to sustain a finish in a tough sprint. Ignore his Railway failure last start, the track was rain-affected and useless to him.
Julius is the TAB's hot favourite for this off the back of his 3.5 length runaway win here when fresh from a spell last start. He is a freakish type and being a monster of a horse his 53kg will feel like a matchbox on his back. Jake Bayliss retains the ride.
