Copacabana ($2.15 favourite on TAB), placed in a strong field on this track on August 8, is well placed in the 1400m Team Thoroughbred NSW Maiden Plate at Newcastle on Thursday.

There has been no more eventful Missile Stakes than the 1984 edition.

The first Black Type race of the new season the $300,000 Group 2-Darley Missile Stakes at Royal Randwick on Saturday launches pre-spring campaigns and starts 15 consecutive weeks of Group and Listed features in Sydney.

It'll be a matter of when, not if, exciting four-year-old Schwarz gets his chance at a Group 1 if he runs up to expectation at Randwick on Saturday.

Newcastle apprentice Benjamin Osmond rode six winners during July including three on Metropolitan tracks has three mounts at the Newcastle Jockey Club meeting on Thursday and his best chance is trained by his boss Kris Lees.