The Queensland Winter Racing Carnival shifts to the Sunshine Coast on Saturday with the Group 2 Hollindale Stakes headlining Coast To Coast Day.
The $500,00 feature has attracted several proven stayers, all with an eye toward the Doomben Cup later in the month.
A wet day is on the cards with the Sunshine Coast copping plenty of rain throughout the week, the current track rated in the heavy range with more showers on the way.
For our thoughts across the entire nine-race program, read on below.
Midnight In Tokyo has the superior wet track form compared to some of her rivals on return.
We haven’t seen this mare by Kobayashi since the summer late last year where she capped off her brief prep with a half-length win at Doomben up on the speed.
Annabel Neasham’s four-year-old has had just the one trial in between, but does present with solid first-up form and a couple of wins to her name on heavy going.
Damien Thornton has experience on board and with the blinkers off now, it’s clear the stable think she’s ready to run a big race.
Rattle And Hum brings some different form lines into this race after winning two of his last three starts down in Sydney.
Michael Freedman’s four-year-old held on for a narrow win along the rail on the Kensington track two weeks ago over Awesome Wonder, finding something extra over the final stages in his first start over 2400m.
A truly wet track would test him, but drawn to take up similar tactics in a slightly tougher race, he should prove just as tough to run down up on the speed.
Party For One goes well in the wet and is a much better chance than the price suggests.
The Rubick mare is going on close to a year since she last won a race, but she has held her own in tougher company recently, notably placing in the Group 3 Geoffrey Bellmaine at Caulfield back in February.
The light weight is the main selling point carrying just 54kg under Tommy Berry, and we should see plenty of improvement considering she was eight weeks between runs at Mornington last time out.
Perspiration is a colt with real upset for Ciaron Maher.
We haven’t seen much from the lightly-raced two-year-old so far, but he did impress three weeks ago at Mornington when racing four-wide and finding the front at the 200m mark to pull clear.
Fitness-wise, he should be in peak condition fourth-up from a spell and loses no favours with Mark Zahra taking over the reins.
Providing he handles the state of the track, the Ken Russell Memorial looks the next logical step.
Nettuno can run a handy race here with conditions to suit.
Tony Gollan’s gelding was good on return in the Ascot Handicap three weeks ago at Eagle Farm, shifting out at the top of the straight where he just plugged away to finish three lengths off The Big Goodbye.
His form on wet going gets a big tick and so too does the rise to his preferred distance of 1200m.
From a better gate with Ryan Maloney taking over, go each-way.
The gate makes this slightly tricky, but on recent form Stefi Magnetica deserves enormous respect in Gold Coast Guineas betting.
The All Too Hard filly has been given a good gap between runs for her runner-up effort in the Group 1 Surround Stakes in March with a soft Randwick trial between starts.
This is her first look at the Sunshine Coast track, but she could measure up after showing plenty on heavy going on debut as a two-year-old.
Kovalica returns to Queensland looking to pick up where he left off last year winning the Queensland Derby at Eagle Farm to wrap up his prep.
Chris Waller’s four-year-old failed to replicate that form during the Sydney autumn, last seen running fifth in the famous Pride Of Jenni race where he was competing on a quick seven-day turnaround.
The son of Ocean Park has mixed his form fresh, but does look to have the majority of this year’s A.D. Hollindale Stakes field covered in terms of class.
Nash Rawiller is in charge of offsetting the wide gate, but if they can get back to the tail and save something for the finish, the pair should be coming on strongly.
Firestorm is a Chris Waller-trained filly that presents rock-hard fit fourth-up from a spell.
The Kiwi import has tackled tougher assignments in her last two starts, beaten narrowly for a place in a Group 3 down in Sydney a couple of runs back where she chased hard over the final 200m on heavy going.
She took further improvement into the Princess Stakes at Eagle Farm, finishing within half a length of Waikato Girl.
Off that, 1800m looks to be no problem and the obvious booking of James McDonald signals intent from the stable.
Steady Ready looks a decent each-way play in a very open race to conclude the day.
The Sears-trained gelding hasn’t been seen since the Magic Millions Open on the Gold Coast in what was a total forgive run from the wide gate.
Returns a gelding now with Celine Graham back in the saddle and does have some handy first-up form to his resume. Proven in the wet, drawn well, ticks a few important boxes.