Ray: You don’t know how you compare until you line up but Perfect Stride has the speed

One minor hiccup aside, Perfect Stride’s Breeder’s Crown lead-up has gone to plan and not even a second row draw should stop him from going close in Wednesday night’s heat at Shepparton.

But as Lincoln Farms’ trainer Ray Green says, until the speedy two-year-old colt takes on his Australian counterparts, it’s impossible to know how he will measure up.

Green dispatched Perfect Stride along with fellow Lincoln Farms resident Zeuss Bromac to Victoria a week ago and says both horses travelled well to Craig Demmler’s Bacchus Marsh stable, 50km outside Melbourne.

“He pulled a shoe shortly after he got there, which was a bit of a worry for a couple of days, but that’s all under control now.

“All’s well with the pair of them and Zac’s over there now until Thursday looking after them.”

Zachary Butcher, Lincoln Farms’ No. 1 driver, trains and part-owns Zeuss Bromac, who has drawn the first and strongest looking of the two 2190 metre heats on Wednesday night.

Anthony Butt will take the reins on Perfect Stride in the second heat where from two on the second line he will follow through one of the favourites in Youaremy Sunshine.

While keen to see how competitive Perfect Stride will be, Green is relaxed at the outcome given only 24 horses nominated for the two-year-old colts’ and geldings’ section and all will progress to the semi-finals at Bendigo on August 17.

“It’s hard to marry up the form between the two countries - you don’t know if you’re as good as them or better than them.

King Of Swing takes the 2017 Breeders’ Crown Two-year-old Final for Lincoln Farms.“When we took King Of Swing over in 2017 it was the same. Until he lined up in the semis we didn’t know whether he was a serious contender, we were living in hope.”

As it turned out, King Of Swing, winner of just four of his six starts, none in top company, was too good for them and he won the A$285,000 Final, beating local stars Poster Boy and Colt Thirty One.

Green, who was persuaded to run Perfect Stride in the series by his Australian owner Emilio Rosati, believes however that Perfect Stride has the speed to be very competitive.

Since the day Butcher first drove the younger brother of West Australian star Chicago Bull, he has been impressed by his straight line speed, even moved to say after his first workout at Alexandra Park last November that “in time he could be one of the quickest horses I’ve driven.’’

Perfect Stride has shown that rare brand of speed in both his recent wins at Auckland, sprinting five wide round the bend on July 6 and still putting the race to bed in the space of 100 metres.

Zeuss Bromac … the first horse Zachary Butcher has trained.Perfect Stride was also doing it comfortably last time on July 26 on mile night at Auckland when he comfortably held off the opposition in 1:56.1.

That time would compare favourably with the mile rates set by the Australian favourites on the considerably faster tracks of Menangle and Melton, Crunch Time having paced 1:53.3 in Sydney and Youaremy Sunshine 1:53.8 for 1780 metres in Melbourne.

Emma Stewart’s Do Not Surrender ran only 2:01.5 for 2190 metres in his debut win at Shepparton on July 23.

The track record mile rate for 2190 metres at Shepparton is 1:54.1, set by Hurricane Harley in February.

Zeuss Bromac, who will start from an awkward gate five in his heat, runs into the more favoured Emma Stewart pair of Be Happy Mach and Mirragon, with recent 1:53.8 Melton winner Sahara Sirocco also in the market from barrier two.

Zeuss Bromac races at 10.30pm NZ time at Shepparton on Wednesday night.Perfect Stride races at 11pm NZ time at Shepparton on Wednesday night.