KEY POINTS:
Michael Walker may not be raceday riding right now, but he's given trainer Allan Sharrock the thumbs up about Wahid for tomorrow's $200,000 Thorndon Mile.
Walker, waiting for advice about possible hip surgery, has been riding work for Sharrock, with whom he spent his entire apprenticeship in Taranaki.
"Michael was delighted with the way Wahid got through his final gallop this week," said Sharrock.
The only factor Sharrock is sweating on is a very firm track.
"A couple of jockeys have told me the Trentham track on Monday was quite hard - that would have suited me, my bloke would race down the main road and not worry about it."
The track has been irrigated since and Sharrock is concerned about the prospect of light rain or drizzle.
"The planes haven't been able to take off here for two days, the weather's been that dodgy.
"I'm booked to fly down [to Wellington] late in the morning - the way things are here I'll be taking a minibus.
"The fortunate thing is they say it's okay in Wellington at the moment.
"I hope it ends up a genuine summer track because if you want to watch slow horses just wait until winter then you'll see six months of it."
Everyone likes to come out of a handy barrier draw, but Sharrock says he's not too concerned over Wahid's No17 gate, which will become No15 if the field remains intact.
"I can see the possibility of Balthazar coming across and having Sir Slick on and the field should break up somewhere.
"Anyway, he's not a one-dimensional horse and Leith [Innes] should find him a run."
Thorndon Miles have thrown up plenty of upset results and the field is full of runners capable of testing the favourites with the right passage.
Gaze is due some luck. She didn't get it in the Gasmate Stakes or the Rich Hill Mile and last week at Avondale was clearly necessary to have her fit for this race.
Glen Boss and Fiscal Madness should get on well. Trainer John Sargent felt the horse needed his outing in last week's Anniversary Handicap and Fiscal Madness did well to finish second to Sir Slick.
Sir Slick comes in well at the weights, dropping 1kg for this race, the same as Fiscal Madness.
Bonjour and Shikoba are capable of upsets and Rosina Lad would be one of those assisted if the rain came.
TAB odds for Thorndon Mile: $4.40 Wahid; $5.50 Sir Slick; $7 Fiscal Madness; $8 Bonjour; $11 Shikoba; $16 Gaze; $17 Penitentiary; $18 Taalisman, High Octane; $21 Rosina Lad, Delbrae, Magnetism, Penny Florence; $26 Pins'N' Needles; $31 Maroofity, Korau Road, The Silence Sir, Pinmdown; $41 Belthazar; $51 Mohican Brave; $61 Shinzig.
