We head to Belmont with the three-year-old's taking centre stage on a nine-race card.
Racing returns to Belmont on Saturday with the track rated a Soft 5 on Thursday and the rail returning to the True position.
Unfortunately, there is the possibility of between nine and 20mm of rain on raceday, so it's worth tracking the weather and get a read on how the track is holding up early on in the day.
Hopefully we'll make it to the feature event on the card - the Belmont Guineas - which is Race 8 on the program.
The Raconteur Stakes a fortnight ago heads the market with the winner Brave Spirit ahead of The Boss Lady in early betting.
Brave Spirit was a strong winner of the Raconteur, rating on the high side against other winners of the race.
A good tempo was set out in front, leaving us with a good and true piece of form which we can trust.
If there is a bone to pick with Brave Spirit, it's that he jumped a $15 hope in the Raconteur, and is now a $3.80* favourite for the Belmont Guineas... It's a bit hard to stomach.
With a good tempo being set, it meant that although The Boss Lady was the 'flashing light' run from the back, she was given a near-perfect ride by Chris Parnham.
Unfortunately, the duo have drawn wide again (barrier 16) which is a tricky position for fans of The Boss Lady. Is she ensured a strong tempo to run at again and run the risk of being too far back? Or does Parnham chance his luck, rush her out of the barriers and try to slot in?
The key to all of this may be what Joe Azzopardi and Cool Memory do from out wide. The pair burned along out in front, setting up a strong tempo which brought some fancied rivals unstuck.
He showed he has pace to burn in the Raconteur, but out to a mile and an outside draw may see different tactics come into play, and that's where the 'new form' comes in.
Luvnwar won a much slower event over the same course and distance on the same card as the Raconteur, but it was also run in a very different manner.
The former Kiwi has plenty of upside, being Group 3 placed when third-up in her debut campaign and now stretches out to the mile for the first time. Plenty of question marks, but they're all proceeded by a positive twist on words.
One who creates excitement, but is also a bit bizarre at the top of the market is last-start maiden winner Petrouchka.
The daughter of More Than Ready ran to a figure of 67 with Racing and Sports when winning at Northam on June 13th. For comparison, Brave Spirit ran to 104 when winning the Raconteur.
While she's trained by Team Williams and ridden by William Pike, having her inside double figures seems an overreaction to what we've seen thus far.
After saying a whole lot of nothing in the spiel above, I've gone with Russian To The Bar on top in the Belmont Guineas. His run first-up was a nice pipe opener and he ran to rating that would see him an above average winner of this race when winning the Challenge and the Lex Piper at Ascot earlier this year.
I'm not worried about the sharp rise in trip as I think he's looking for it now, and we're getting a good price to find out if his last campaign was a fluke, or if there's more to come from the Luke Fernie-trained gelding.
That's enough dribble, time to get into what everyone really wants!
Happy to make FALCON TRADER the Best Bet on the card in a day where I found it tricky to nail one down.
He was fantastic when out to the mile for the first time, winning the WA Day Cup at Northam under Lucy Fiore, who remains in the saddle for Saturday's assignment.
The son of My Admiration has also won three-from-four on rain affected going, a big tick with showers anticipated on raceday.
He's drawn to put himself right on the speed again and after running a new peak out to the mile last start, he can go to another level now.
Following on from my "Russian" theme in the Guineas, RUSSIAN SNIPER in Race 7 can go to a new level.
He stormed home to win over 1200m at Belmont a fortnight ago and rises up to the 1400m for the first time in his 21-start career.
Interestingly, he is the first of his siblings to win below 1300m, with a number of his siblings having won races beyond 2000m.
His racing pattern suggests the extra furlong won't be an issue and the fact Pike sticks is a positive sign from a middle draw.
Ran a new peak last start, but I think we can see him go even better again out in trip.
The bet365 Best From The West
Best Bet: Race 5 Number 3 FALCON TRADER @ $4.80* with bet365
Next Best: Race 7 Number 2 RUSSIAN SNIPER @ $7.50* with bet365
Belmont Guineas: Race 8 Number 1 RUSSIAN TO THE BAR @ $11* with bet365
*Prices correct as of 3:30pm, June 20.
