“I think it was between a 8 and a 9 this morning and if the forecast for the rest of the week is right I think it should come back to maybe a Soft 6, at a guess,” Greene said.
“If it does, then we will have no problem with that and we will be starting.”
Greene has been very open about the fact he thinks the Telegraph and BCD Sprint winner is at his best on Good 4 tracks but with the Foxbridge at home and two weeks out from the Group 1 Proisir Plate at Ellerslie, he is happy to start First Five on a soft track.
“I think it will bring him on for the Proisir Plate and the Howden Mile after that.”
First Five looks our best sprinter after last season’s heroics, while Crocetti and Alabama Lass quinelled the Railway last year so the top end of Saturday’s race will be super strong.
You can also add defending champion Sterling Express and former Aussie speedster Media World to the mix.
The field for the Foxbridge Plate and all of Saturday’s races will be finalised between 10am and 11am on Wednesday morning.
Alabama Lass was the $2.60 pre-draw favourite last night ahead of Crocetti and First Five at $6.50, the latter potentially great value if Te Rapa has nothing but warm, windy days between now and Saturday.
Superstar meet in Sydney?
While Kiwi racing fans will welcome the return of the Group 1 horses at Te Rapa, something even more special could be on the cards in Sydney on Saturday.
Because two of Australia’s most exciting gallopers, Autumn Glow and Sheza Alibi, could be set to clash in the Winx Stakes at Randwick.
The 1400m weight-for-age race has always been on Autumn Glow’s programme and she will head a huge team for trainer Chris Waller in the race named after his all-time champion.
But Sheza Alibi’s trainer Peter Moody confirmed yesterday the race is now also increasingly likely for his 4-year-old, who recorded one of the best performances in Australia last season with her dazzling Doncaster victory in April.
The pair clashing in Saturday’s A$1 million race would be a stunning pre-spring match-up, with Autumn Glow rated the $1.65 favourite last night but Sheza Alibi shortening into $2.45.
For all Sheza Alibi’s brilliance he won’t actually be done any favours by the weight-for-age scale for Saturday’s race as she only gets a 0.5kg advantage over Autumn Glow even though the latter is a year older.
If their clash is confirmed at final acceptances on Wednesday morning, spring will have well and truly sprung in Sydney racing.
Lara looking for weight relief
Trainer Mark Walker is targeting races with less weight on her back for Lara Antipova after her battling ninth in her return to racing on Saturday.
Last season’s New Zealand juvenile of the year never really looked like winning her comeback race at Caulfield on Saturday and while she had little racing room from the 300m mark, she is going to need to find some more leg speed to challenge Australia’s best sprinting filllies.
“The winner was pretty good in that race but she [Lara Antipova] just wasn’t quick enough under her big weight,” Walker admitted.
“So we will look at an open 3-year-old race on September 12, where she will drop from the 59kg she carried on Saturday to 57kg.
“We might then look at the Stutt Stakes at Caulfield [September 27], as it is set weights and by then we will know whether she is a 1000 Guineas contender over here.”
Walker hasn’t ruled out Lara Antipova returning to New Zealand if she can’t break through in Victoria this spring but that would seem unlikely before the first of our 3-year-old Group 1s, the New Zealand 1000 Guineas at Riccarton in November.
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.
