The race for the South Island Trainers’ Premiership is starting to heat up.

Michael and Matthew Pitman headed into Riccarton’s Synthetic meeting on Thursday one win ahead of Andrew Carston, but the rivals left the meeting on level terms.

The Pitmans started off the day well when $1.30 favourite Russian Rosette beat the Carston-trained Peace Lover in the opening race of the meeting, however, Carston wasn’t to be outdone, recording a winning double courtesy of Oh No No No and Peut Respirer.

Former Northlander Oh No No No joined Carston’s barn last month and he was pleased with what he saw from the Showcasing mare on Thursday when taking out the Grand National Tickets On Sale Now (1200m) by two lengths.

“She is a very nice horse that Ken Harris sent down not too long ago,” Carston said.

“She has settled in well and she was pretty dominant today. I think she will train on and win another pretty quickly.”

In the following race, stablemate Peut Respirer ran home late to score a long neck victory in the Speight’s Summit Ultra On Tap Maiden (1400m), with stablemate The Arctic Blast finishing third.

“I really like Peut Respirer,” Carston said.

“She has had a lot of issues. She went really well on the poly last year, so I was confident going back to the polytrack.

“She has taken a couple of runs to get fit, but it was a good win and Kozzi (Asano) rode her really well.”

Carston is a fan of the polytrack and said it allows him to ready his team for spring racing over the winter months.

“I am a big believer in the poly, I won’t let anyone bag it,” he said.

“It has been a godsend for us Riccarton trainers to be able to work our horses and have them ready for the spring."