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For the second week in a row, Peter and Dawn Williams will mount an offensive against in-form sprinter Close Up on two fronts.
The Williams pair of Fire Jet and Brilliant Shine filled the minor positions behind Close Up at Ellerslie last week and all three return for the rematch in Saturday's Edwards Sound Chairman's Trophy (1400m) at the same track.
The Shelley Hale-trained Close Up has won nine of his 24 starts, including wins at New Plymouth and Ellerslie in his two runs back this winter, and Peter Williams rated the Shinko King seven-year-old as the horse for his pair to beat again.
"They will both go well again, but Close Up is a good horse and he won't be easy to beat again either," Williams said.
"He's gone up three points, but Fire Jet doesn't meet him any better at the weights. Brilliant Shine comes in one and a half kilos better so he might be the one to test him.
"I'm happy with both of ours. Both riders told me they came to the end of their runs last week, but they've both thrived since so we're happy to give them their chance again this week."
Guillotine six-year-old Brilliant Shine was a trial winner for Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman before heading to Sydney where a Rosehill win saw him sold to Hong Kong, where he won six races, three of them in class two company.
He was beaten three-quarters of a length last week, but with the weight swing, looks a leading chance this weekend.
"He's been a good horse in Hong Kong. He won $NZ1 million up there and any horse that can do that is a pretty smart horse. If he did that in New Zealand, he'd be at the top of the ratings," Williams said.
"John White, the bloodstock agent, asked me if I would take him when he came back to New Zealand. He had a couple of issues, but we sent him to the beach for eight or nine weeks and then just brought him along quietly.
"If he goes well on Saturday and comes through it all right, we'd probably freshen him up for the Foxbridge Plate."
The Gr.2 Foxbridge Plate (1200m) is run at Te Rapa in August.
Williams revealed Gr.3 Winter Cup (1600m) plans for Fire Jet at Riccarton in early August.
"I've got in the back of my mind thoughts of taking him to Christchurch for the Winter Cup. I've always thought he'd get a mile and being by Tavistock, he should be a better horse over more ground," Williams said.
The Williams stable will also produce upset last-start winner Repo Sun in the Papatoetoe Glass 3yo (1400m).
"He's got to step up, but it's just a seven-horse field and it's pretty even. That horse of Murray Baker's [Deals in Heels] looks the horse to beat."
