Twain faces a stern test in his opening assignment of the season, Saturday’s Gr.2 Waikato Stud Foxbridge Plate (1200m) at Te Rapa, and trainer John Bell is hoping it will put him in good stead for some lofty sprinting targets.

The six-year-old gelding performed with merit in last year’s edition of the race, finishing fourth behind Sterling Express before going on to win the Gr.3 Sweynesse Stakes (1215m) and finish runner-up in the Gr.3 Counties Bowl (1100m).

The son of Per Incanto is set to follow a similar path this season, but this time geared towards an elite-level target.

“We will follow that same path, but the main aim will be the Railway (Gr.1, 1200m),” Bell said. “He is a year older and a bit smarter, but it will take a little bit more to get ready.”

This time last year, Twain was already well into his preparation, having won two and finished runner-up in his three lead-in runs, and this year he will go into the Foxbridge fresh.

He has had two lead-in trials, including a runner-up effort behind Well Written over 1100m at Taupo on Sunday, and he will have the services of premiership-winning jockey Craig Grylls aboard this weekend.

“I would like to think he will be somewhere in the first four or five,” Bell said.

Bell will also head to Te Rapa with a strong team on the undercard, including Zenith and Amazonia in the Return To Conquer Mile (1600m).

Both horses head into the race in good form, with Zenith winning over a mile at Te Rapa last month, while Amazonia was runner-up over 1400m at the Hamilton track a fortnight ago.

“They are both fit and well and have got good riders,” Bell said. “Amazonia has improved. She is a class mare that has never had any luck at all.

“Zenith is a beautiful moving horse, and Matt Cartwright will enjoy the ride on him I am sure.

“I would like to think they will run a nice race.”

Pure Champion five-year-old gelding Afore Ye Go is another last start winner and will contest the Ocean Park 2400, and Bell believes the gentle giant has a bright future over ground.

“He showed a lot as a yearling and two-year-old when we broke him in and through his early education,” the Cambridge conditioner said. “He had growing pains and we forgot about him for a year or two and brought him back in and he was 17.1 (hands) as a four-year-old, with a two-year-old brain.

“He has taken a lot of work. The team has put a lot of effort into him in getting him to be a horse, but when the penny drops I would like to think he will be a nice stayer in the future.”

Meanwhile, stablemate Spanish Lad continued his purple patch of form on the synthetic when runner-up behind Kasukedo in Wednesday’s Richard Bright Memorial (1550m) at Cambridge.

The son of Shocking has recorded all five of his wins on the surface but will now return to the grass for his next assignment.

“He was in the perfect position but then we got swamped and kicked out the back end, and then we couldn’t get a run into the straight,” Bell said. “If he had been able to keep in that first three or four, it would have been a different story.

“He is a lovely horse, and we will look at a nice right at Te Rapa for him in the future.”