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Rising nine-year-old Toma Valea is in the form of his life and expectations of the sprinter are again understandably high as he chases consecutive Riccarton victories.

The gelding will step out in the Sonia & Garry Thompson Open Handicap on Saturday after comfortably accounting for the well-performed King Montrose, a race rival again, earlier this month.

“He’s going as well as ever and even though he’s been up for a while, he just keeps training on,” said Michael Stokes, who prepares Toma Valea with his wife Tarsha.

“We thought the heavy track may have been an issue, but he coped with it fine. It surprised us a bit because he hasn’t handled them in the past.

“He’s very well and he would have to be a good show again. He looks fantastic and he just keeps racing better and better.”

The only concern is Toma Valea’s continued rise up the handicap, although apprentice Jacob Lowry’s two kilo claim will help the cause.

“The weight is becoming an issue now,” Stokes said. “We’ll see how he goes on Saturday and we might give him a bit of a break and then bring him back for the Grand National meeting – there’s a $40,000 race for him.”

The stable are also expecting a decent first-up performance on Saturday from Toetwotoe in the Smith’s Hire Rating 75.

“She’s good to go and she won’t mind the ground at all, she’s got a nice light weight and she has won on the track before,” Stokes said.