In-form Mishani Hustler looks set to prove his rating as a weights certainty in the $200,000 3YO Jewel at the Gold Coast.
Mishani Hustler’s handicap rating has shot to 87.5 on the back of six wins and a second to star galloper Zousain in a Group Two race.
His nearest rival in The Jewel is Defence Missile who has a rating of 80.
It means in a normal Saturday handicap Mishani Hustler would have at least 61kg but at the Gold Coast he will carry 57kg under the set-weights scale.
Many of his rivals are privately wondering how to beat the Ben Currie-trained Mishani Hustler but the Defence Missile camp has made its feelings clear.
Premier jockey Jeff Lloyd rode Defence Missile when he was second to Mishani Hustler in a Jewel Prelude two weeks ago.
“I had a lovely run behind him and moved up in the straight. I thought I would get him with the full length of the straight but he just kept finding more,” Lloyd said.
Lloyd, who had a fall at Eagle Farm last week, missed Doomben on Wednesday but expects to be fit on Saturday.
Les Ross, who trains Defence Missile, could find no excuses after the race.
“We had a great run and Mishani Hustler was just too good,” Ross said.
His main hope is rain with Defence Missile unbeaten on heavy tracks.
Owner Mick Crooks is in the nice position of having both Mishani Hustler and Defence Missile.
Currie has also entered last-start runaway Toowoomba winner Soxagon.
Soxagon was having only his third start and his first as a three-year-old when he won a maiden by 10 lengths.
