Outstanding galloper Front Page proved to be levels above his opponents in last year’s Iron Jack Wagga Town Plate and despite a huge jump in the weights and a wide draw he has been installed as favourite for Thursday’s feature race.
Front Page ($3.70 on TAB) drew gate 17 at Tuesday's barrier draw with his trainer Geoff Duryea to still confirm a start for the 2022 Kosciuszko champion.
Last year's winning jockey Tyler Schiller has been declared as his rider as he looks to maintain his unbeaten record in two starts on the Corowa-trained flying machine.
Front Page carried 54.5kg last year and rises 7kg (61.5kg) after winning the $2 million The Kosciuszko and having his last three starts in Group One races.
Only four horses are weighted above the minimum of 54kg – Art Cadeau ($7), Surreal Step ($9) and Handle The Truth ($15).
Mnementh ($12) tried his heart out when second behind Front Page in last year's edition and meets him seven kilograms better.
The horse with the unusual name that has many guessing has had one start back from a spell when he went across the finish line in seventh position with Town Plate contender Rocket Tiger (sixth) in Sydney. He is a $9.50 chance.
Leading trainer Mitch Beer was realistic when summing up his chances.
"Front Page would need a lot of bad luck and we would need a lot of good luck to win," he suggested. "Our horse has gone to another level, but so has Front Page.
"Mnementh is going as well as ever, but I think if you ran this race eight or ten times we might win once and Front Page would win the others.
"Rocket Tiger won his next start when he bolted in with the Town Plate prelude and my horse has a great second-up record (3 wins from 6 starts) and we were near him first-up."
Wagga trainer Scott Spackman will take some additional belief going into the feature sprint after Rocket Tiger broke through for his first win in nine starts since his previous victory 28 months earlier.
Drawn ideally in gate three, Rocket Tiger should get a favourable run and if he can repeat his last effort he is in with a chance of winning again.
Art Cadeau, the winner of The Kosciuszko and Country Championships, will be having his first start since running fifth behind Front Page in The Kosciuszko in October.
The winner of $1.5 million was lame after his last start and is right to go again after a few setbacks, according to trainer Terry Robinson.
"He has been off the scene for a while, but he normally goes well fresh and I expect him to run a good race," Robinson said. "We seem to be on top of his issues and I'm happy enough where he is drawn (gate 10)."
Country Championships (South East) winner Testator Silens ($14) will wear blinkers for the first time after finishing 10th in the final on April 1.
Sparring (first-$18) and Magnetic (third-$26) competed in the Albury Flat Knacker over 900m in last March and are two of the other light weight chances.
The talented Ang Pow ($13 into $6.50) won his final two starts before a spell taking his record to five victories from nine appearances.
Delacour ($19) has won her past three starts including her latest in a $150,000 Benchmark 78 at the Hawkesbury Cup meeting.
