Despite the absence of an unbeaten three-year-old who has lit up the last two Ruakaka racedays, the local father-daughter duo of Kenny Rae and Krystal Williams are set to play a big role again during Saturday’s ITM/Gib Winter Championship Finals Day.

Dan Vegas scored spectacular front-running victories over 1400m on June 8 and June 29. The well-related son of Per Incanto would likely have been a short-priced favourite to complete a winning hat-trick in Saturday’s $60,000 ITM/Gib 3YO Winter Championship Final (1600m), but Rae decided to err on the side of caution.

“He’s gone out for a little break,” he said. “I just thought the mile might be a bit far for him at this stage. He’s also done a lot in his first preparation.

“There’s been plenty of interest in him from bloodstock agents all over the place – the last one that called me was in Hong Kong. But nothing’s happened yet. I’m just passing those calls on to the owners, and we’ll see what happens.”

Rae and Williams will still be represented in the 3YO Final by Tide And Time and Zlatna.

Tide And Time finished fourth in the 2YO Final on this day last year, and the Time Test filly went on to clear maiden ranks with an impressive late burst at this track in January. She has chased home Dan Vegas in her last two starts, flashing home from the back to finish fourth and sixth.

“I think the step up to 1600m will be ideal for her,” Rae said. “She’s been finishing her races off very nicely behind Dan Vegas in her last couple of runs.

“But it might be a different race without him in it – he really strung the fields out, and she dropped right back before getting home strongly. Hopefully there’ll be enough speed on to set it up for her to produce that finish again.”

Zlatna was a last-start maiden winner over 1200m at Te Aroha on June 27.

“She won that maiden race well, but that was on a Heavy9 track at Te Aroha and it’s going to be a bit different to that on Saturday,” Rae said.

Kelly Myers will ride Tide And Time, who the TAB rates an equal $5 favourite alongside Full Noise. Zlatna will be ridden by Jasmine Fawcett and is rated a $12 chance.

The ITM/Gib Progressive Winter Championship Final (1600m) features Heart of Alladin, who was a strong winner over the same course and distance on June 8. He lined up again three weeks later but was slow to begin from a wide gate and finished outside the placings.

“He was miles too wide last time, so he never really had a chance there,” Rae said. “I think it’s quite a nice race for him, hopefully Kelly can give him a good run from that draw (four).”

Two-year-old Vegas Queen is a close relative to Dan Vegas, and she caught the eye with a big finish for third over 1100m during the last Ruakaka meeting on June 29. That was the second career start for the Proisir filly, who had been a well-beaten sixth on debut three weeks earlier.

Vegas Queen will contest Saturday’s $35,000 ITM/Gib 2YO (1200m), which has been added to the card after the $60,000 2YO Final was deleted due to insufficient entries.

“She’s just a lovely filly,” Rae said. “She’s not really a two-year-old type, but the improvement that she showed from her first run to her second was huge. She’s going the right way. She’s as bright as a button and eating well.

“Further down the track, the 1000 Guineas (Gr.1, 1600m) is the dream. A race like this on her home track is probably a more realistic target to focus on for now, and hopefully she can show us enough to keep heading in that direction.”

Stablemate Casual Khan is entered to make his debut in the same race on Saturday and is expected to benefit from the run.

The Rae/Williams team at Ruakaka is rounded out by last-start placegetters Illicit Dreams and Dancing Dream, who will contest the Northland Business Systems (1200m) and Entain/NZB Insurance Pearl Series (1200m) respectively.

“They’re both going really well and should be competitive again,” Rae said. “I don’t think there’ll be any excuses.”