Will the Otaki track dry enough before Sunday for exciting sprinter Platinum Attack?

Team Platinum Attack are on a weather watch again with his run at Otaki on Sunday in the balance.

After being late scratched from the Stewards at Riccarton 13 days ago when a freak hailstorm turned the track heavy, the exciting sprinter’s connections turned to Sunday’s $80,000 Levin Stakes.

But there remains doubt today on whether the ground will dry enough to risk the horse after 33ml of rain fell yesterday on top of already soft 7 footing.

But part-owner Neville McAlister isn’t panicking about the possibility of missing another lead-up to the big summer sprints.

“You’d think it would be a heavy 8 or heavy 9 at the moment but there are still two days of drying to go. And if it comes back to a soft 6 on race morning, and dries more during the day, he should be OK.”

Platinum Attack has won twice in soft 5 footing but has been beaten five times in ground worse than that.

“If it’s too wet, he’ll stay home in his box. We won’t be running for the sake of it and risk buggering him up.”

The forecast looks fairly good for the next two days but rain is set to return on Sunday afternoon, with the Levin Stakes timed for 2.40pm.

“We’ll just be patient. We always get rain this time of the year, we just don’t want it to stretch into January,” McAlister said.

Platinum Attack’s two big goals are the $550,000 Telegraph at Trentham on January 3 and the $700,000 Railway at Ellerslie on January 24.

Punters don’t seem worried by the prospect of slow footing on Sunday, Platinum Attack’s opening odds of $3.60 already trimmed to $3.30.

And trainer Lisa Latta isn’t concerned that the Pegasus winner won’t have raced for 22 days if he lines up on Sunday.

“I couldn’t be happier with him. He arrived back from Riccarton in fantastic order. He is looking great and feeling even better, so I am happy with where he is at.

“It’s quite a strong field, with others getting in with much lighter weights than him (59.5kg), but hopefully he gets the track he is looking for.”

McAlister doesn’t see Platinum Attack’s barrier eight as a hindrance to rider Craig Grylls, the horse set to come in one spot with the expected withdrawal of topweight Mercurial. Last year’s Telegraph winner is also entered for a 1300 metre race at Ellerslie on Saturday where rider Sam McNab has been declared. Rareza is also a double acceptor.

More important will be Grylls finding cover for Platinum Attack, aided by the presence of a lot of speed in the race.

“Horses like Idyllic and Ima Brazen One are sure to be smoking along.”