It's not a jockey or trainer that punters should follow at Happy Valley tonight but rather a barrier, gate one, which looks set to add to its already-impressive statistics when the rail is in the 'C' position.
Barrier one could literally win all of the eight races and on last night's 6pm tote call, the longest priced horse to start from the coveted alley was Douglas Whyte's mount That's It ($73) in the fourth event.
The stall one inmates in each of the other seven races are even more strongly in commission, most notably Tiger Prawn ($20), the shortest-priced favourite on the programme in race three.
Barriers are important at any time at Happy Valley but become increasingly significant as the movable rail goes out from its true (A) position.
In the 'C' placement (ie, eight metres out from true), barrier one is clearly the most successful of the 12 gates at the 1,650 metres start, achieving 14 per cent wins, 25 per cent quinella and 40 per cent in the first three.
The impact of the barriers at this distance is such that 67 per cent of the winners in an 88 race sample have drawn in the first six alleys.