Stable stalwart Southern Lad is as honest as the day is long but there is one undeniable statistic that suggests he'll struggle to win in the Starlight Stakes at Rosehill Gardens tomorrow. His second-up record reads 6 starts for 3 third placings. His record at Rosehill doesn't read great either with 4 starts for no

Champion will be represented by two runners at Thursday's Hawkesbury meeting. Kicking off proceedings is 3YO debutant Pizarro who has showed plenty of talent in all four trials to date. He lines up in Race 4, a maiden plate over 1100m which has produced a full field of 14 runners.

Southern Lad picked up where he left off last preparation when taking out the feature race at Randwick's Melbourne Cup meeting on Tuesday. The 7YO son of Ocean Park was sent around as the race favourite following three eye-catching trials leading into the first-up run.

Lion's Roar will tackle the Rosehill Gold Cup on Saturday where connections are hoping for the best performance of his preparation. The 4YO son on Contributer is coming off a last start 3rd placing in the Craven Plate which was a sharp improvement stepping up in distance.