Punters who burned their fingers on Brett Prebble on Sunday at short odds should have the chance to get square and at much better odds at Happy Valley tonight. Prebble was a prohibitive price to take honours on international day, but supporters knew they were in trouble as odds-on favourites Taverner and Supreme Win failed to mount any sort of challenge after missing the start in their races early in the day. Prebble is a much more attractive 6.0 second choice in opening betting behind Douglas Whyte (3.20), with Howard Cheng Yue-tin (6.0), Johan Victoire (10.0) and Keith Yeung Ming-lun (10.0) the others given strong chances by oddsmakers. And the strategy looks to be to take the early odds because Prebble has a chance to open the batting with a winner in Mount Surplus (race one), while Whyte has no mount. Both have strong chances in race two with Prebble on Encosta Don, backing up from a good effort over the same course a week ago, and Whyte aboard Darpana, stepping up to a more suitable distance after having no luck at 1,200m last time. That could be a key point in the battle and Prebble supporters will be hoping to have some serious points posted already as he has no ride in the third. Whyte looks to have a stronger back half of the programme, including the John Size-trained up-and-comer National Treasure, who looks sure to run favourite in race six.
