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Trainer Paul Murray believes Winning Point is ready to lug a big weight on home turf at Kembla Grange on Thursday as a kick off point to a crack at the $3 million Big Dance later this spring.
Winning Point claimed eligibility to run in Big Dance or Little Dance when she scored in the Bega Cup on the Sapphire Coast in February.
The daughter of Bull Point went for a spell following her next run in town as Murray began planning for her date with the lucrative spring feature.
She will resume on home turf in the Wests Illawarra Benchmark 64 Handicap (1500m).
Winning Time will be forced to carry 61kg in her return with Group 1-winning jockey Adam Hyeronimus but Murray expects she will be up to the assignment.
"I think she will go very well," Murray said.
"We were going to claim but Braith Nock received a suspension.
"I was up half the night on Sunday night wondering if I should claim but then I decided if I wanted to get in the Big Dance, we have to get her ratings up.
"There is only five or six kilos top to bottom in the weights and she has had a lot of grounding so the fitness is pretty good.
"I thought the 61kg isn't going to knock her around too much so we went with the heavyweight in Adam."
Winning Point has drawn favourably in barrier one for her return but hasn't had a public trial in the lead-up. Murray is confident she will be fit enough for the first-up test.
"She has been in work for a long time," he said. "I brought her in early because it was so wet and there was the worry about stone bruises and everything.
"When they are in the paddock, their feet go so soft so as soon as I got her back in, she had a stone bruise but after that we got her right. She is progressing very well."
Winning Point is a $16 chance on TAB to return a winner on home turf while she is a $101 outsider in Big Dance markets.
Meanwhile, globetrotting superstar Joao Moreira will make a rare appearance at Kembla Grange with two rides for Chris Waller.
Moreira is in the country to ride throughout the Spring Carnival but will make a trip down the south coast to pilot two chances.
They are Nostalgia ($4.80) in the Gerringong Bowlo Bm64 Handicap, 1000m and Great White Shark ($2.30 favourite) in the Phil Ryan Memorial Super Maiden Handicap, 1500m.
