NSW metropolitan racing heads to Newcastle on Saturday for the second-edition of The Hunter, with a $1 million purse up for grabs.
Punters will be excited to get stuck into the big nine-race card on one of Australia's best racing surfaces.
All the usual suspects will be riding, including James McDonald, Nash Rawiller, Brenton Avdulla and Tommy Berry.
Local trainer Kris Lees has 14 horses going around their home track, 5 of those will line up in the feature race.
The rail is in the true position for the entire circuit and the track is rated a Good 4.
At this set-up, all runners will be afforded their chance.
Newcastle Race 9 #9 Through The Cracks $4.40
This looks a beautiful plan by Angela Davies to get her superstar Through The Cracks back into the winner's circle on Hunter day.
The six-year-old gelding returned first-up from a spell in a BM88 over 1200m at Randwick on a bottomless Heavy 10, and ran very well into third behind Hilo beaten 0.5 lengths.
He was able to make good ground from the rear running home in 35.42, which was 3 lengths faster than any other runner in the race.
He has been sent back to the trials over 1000m to keep his fitness up to the mark, making steady ground behind Hunter favourite Trumbull in a nice piece of work.
Second-up last preparation off a freshen he was the winner of the Provincial championship final at Randwick, descending on his rivals from the rear in what was an outstanding effort.
He gets a similar set-up here, coming in second-up (3:2:0:0) over the 1300m (2:1:0:1).
The dry track (9:3:2:1) and a 1.5kg weight swing on Hilo all point to the son of Wanted running a huge race.
Newcastle Race 6 Tip #2 Ellsberg $5.50
I was impressed by the trials of the Spill The Beans colt leading into his debut. He then came out and won well at Warwick Farm, before putting in a strong performance in Saturday grade at Rosehill when finishing second.
He has above average ability but was very green in that second-up run when getting lost on the bend, before balancing up late and recording the fastest last 200m sectional of the day (11.25) on a heavy surface. Very impressive from the youngster.
A big tick for me on Saturday is the inside barrier, where he'll be able to find the rail and get a nice soft lead. This will be a big help for the colt considering he is still learning the craft.
He has had a great prep so far and I like how they've been building into this race, with runs over 1300m, 1400m and now ready to tackle the mile.
Back on top of the ground, expect to see his turn of foot come to the forefront as he's got a real motor.
He has come up big odds and I'm heavily against the current favourite Perfect Radiance at the price.
I expect him to start much shorter come Saturday.