Minos is drawn gate four, but the slickest beginner is Donny Smith’s Cheerstolou (gate five).
This will be a proper test for Leap To Fame, especially if The Janitor can stay in front of him at the start.
Remember, last December The Janitor worked to the lead in the Group 1 Blacks A Fake and Leao To Fame only narrowly got past him in the closing stages of the race won by Don Hugo.
Leap To Fame will be out to protect his astonishing record at Albion Park where he has won 27 of his 28 starts since that luckless fourth in the Be Good Johnny on November 4, 2023.
The only defeat was by a whisker to Don Hugo in that Blacks A Fake where The Janitor ran third.
Minos ran fourth at his first run for Grimson at Menangle on May 23, then won as he liked in a scorching 1min51.9sec mile rate for this distance (2138m) last Saturday night.
The Janitor’s star stablemate, Gus, resumes from a break in the five-horse trotting free-for-all on Friday night.
Connections will be relieved that the race stood up.
Gus hasn’t raced since a big third to champion mare Keayang Zahara in the huge TAB Trot at Cambridge on April 10.
He scorched a 25.9sec closing quarter beating talented pacing mare Cool And Classy in a recent Albion Park trial.
Gus has panels on his rivals for talent, but he is back in the barrier draw and has gate one.
It will be a fascinating watch how Gus handles gate one and what gate speed he shows.
It could be an important pointer to the Inter Dominion.
PHOTO: HRNZ/Race Images NZ
