The first of the big features for this years crop of harness racing two year olds is the $100,000 Young Guns Cardigan Bay Stakes at Alexandra Park on Friday night.
Although it has only drawn a field of eight, it has brought together some outstanding talent and promises to be one of the highlights of the night.
Up until the last heat last Friday night, there looked to be four or five horses in contention to win the final depending on the draws and the run they received.
However the two All Stars runners last Friday night in Pacing Major and More The Better lit up Alexandra Park with an outstanding display of speed and power and in the process lay down a marker for this week.
The time of 2:00 set by More The Better for the 1700 metres equates to a mile rate of 1:53.6 and took 2.5 seconds off the old national record held by the champion two year old Fly Lijke An Eagle.
The All Stars duo did more work than any other horse in the race yet were out on their own by 8 lengths at the finish.
On that performance alone it is hard to see how the two All Star runners don't dominate this weeks final.
So which one will come out on top?
At the moment the score between the pair is two each from their four meetings.
The All Stars barn is adamant that there is nothing between them on ability so the draw here does become critical.
Pacing Major from barrier one has all the options here and it is hard to see how More The Better can work harder during the run and still wear down Pacing Major.
Mark Purdon is renowned for getting everything out of his youngsters so you can't say that More The Better can't win but just that he is less likely to win than Pacing Major.
The Paul Court trained Mongolian Hero looks the big improver from last week.
That was his first run for a month and he would derive immense benefit from it.
Handily drawn at barrier two means he will follow Pacing Major everywhere and he appears the third best here by a fair margin.
The enigma of the field is the Ray Green trained Alta Intrigue.
A nasty virus has gone through the Pukekohe training establishment of Lincoln Farms and Ray's team has suffered more than most.
Alta Intrigue looked the best of the North Islanders earlier in the season but there has to be a big question mark hanging over him after he caught the virus.
At his best Alta Intrigue would be up there with Mongolian Hero but it is hard to know at this point where he sits health wise.
So Pacing Major to beat his stablemate More The Better by a narrow margin to win the final with Mongolian Hero finishing third in front of Alta Intrigue
Harnesslink Media