AUSSIE harness fans should be glued to two races at Cambridge tomorrow (Thursday) night.
Three of New Zealand’s top horses will cap their preparations for Victorian raids.
First out is rejuvenated trotting star Oscar Bonavena in the $40,000 Group 3 Flying Stakes Trot (2200m).
The Mark and Nathan Purdon-trained nine-year-old will blast past $NZ1 million in earnings with a win.
Despite drawing the outside (gate eight), Oscar Bonavena is a $1.10 favourite against rivals he looks to have far too much class for.
Team Purdon will then put Oscar Bonavena on a flight to Melbourne to target Australia’s biggest trotting race, the Group 1 Great Southern Star at Melton on February 1.
Incredibly, it is five years since Oscar Bonavena last contested the Great Southern Star. He finished fourth to Tornada Valley.
Team Purdon also lines up its best pacer, Dont Stop Dreaming, in the Cambridge Flying Stakes Pace (2200m) tomorrow (Thursday) night.
The five-year-old grabbed everyone’s attention with a slashing second to Leap To Fame in last year’s Hunter Cup.
His form has been mixed in the 12 months since, but there is no doubting the five-year-old’s class.
Dont Stop Dreaming will be favourite to regain winning form from gate five, inside his main danger, Republican Party (six).
Trainers Cran and Chrissie Dalgety are using tomorrow night’s race to decide whether last-start Auckland Cup winner Republican Party joins the Kiwi raiders in Melbourne.
Republican Party and Dont Stop Dreaming will chase the Hunter Cup on February 1.
There is a flight from Auckland to Melbourne on January 15, which opens the opportunity of a lead-up run for any or all of the trio ahead of their major targets.
