Champion sprinter Start Wondering will make an appearance on his home track on Thursday.

“He’ll be having a gallop between races at Wanganui and, all going well, he’ll trial next week at Waverley,” co-trainer Evan Rayner said.

“He’s coming up well and the first race he’ll have will probably be at Hawke’s Bay.”

Rayner, who prepares the seven-year-old with his daughter JJ, was referring to the Group 1 Tarzino Trophy (1400m) at Hastings on September 1.

Start Wondering was crowned the 2017-18 Sprinter of the Year following wins in the Group 1 Railway (1200m) and the Group 1 NRM Sprint (1400m). He successfully defended his latter title at Te Rapa earlier this year when run as the BCD Sprint.

The gelding hasn’t raced since he finished a creditable fifth in the Group 1 New Zealand Stakes (2000m) in March in his first attempt at a middle distance. Meanwhile, the stable will have a number of runners at their local meeting on Thursday.

“We’ve got a few in and I think they’ve all got a show,” Rayner said.

Among them is Regal Winks who will be attempting to win the Spooner, Hood & Redpath Handicap (1360m), a race she is running in following an administrative error.

“We had her in two races and withdrew her from one, we wanted to run in the Pearl Series but she was left in the wrong one by the bureau,” Rayner said.

“By the time we found out and rang them back it was too late and they couldn’t re-draw it.”

Regal Winks was out of the money on the course last time out after an interrupted run. “She didn’t have much luck and we expect her to go well,” Rayner said.

New Zealand’s reigning champion sprinter will step up in distance to tackle the Gr.1 Bonecrusher New Zealand Stakes (2000m) at Ellerslie on Saturday week.

“We were going to put him out and try him over ground next season, but he’s had five runs this time in so we’ve decided now is the time to do it,” said Evan Rayner, who trains the seven-year-old with his daughter JJ.

“I don’t think 2000m will worry him, but any further would.”

Start Wondering successfully defended his Gr.1 BCD Group Sprint (1400m) title two starts back at Te Rapa to go with his victory in last year’s Gr.1 Railway (1200m).

At his most recent appearance, the son of Eighth Wonder finished a gallant fifth from the outside gate in the Gr.1 Haunui Farm WFA Classic (1600m).

“I said to Johnathan (Parkes) ride him where you find yourself and they ended up wide,” Rayner said.

“If you dig him up out of the gates he can over-race and if they had gone forward the result wouldn’t have been different.

“Under the circumstances, it was a good run and he’s come through it very well.”

Parkes will head north next week to continue his association with the gelding.

Start Wondering has won three times over a mile, and has been Group One placed at that trip, and he has also won over 1500m at Rosehill during his Sydney days with champion trainer Chris Waller.

The Wanganui seven-year-old overcame the Slow 9 going on Saturday to successfully defend his title in the Group 1 BCD Group Sprint (1400m).

“Any Group One win is special, but we weren’t expecting it today,” said Evan Rayner, who trains the gelding with his daughter JJ at Wanganui.

“It rained all the way up here and he’s struck some terrible tracks this time around, but he handled it better than I thought at Auckland so we decided to run.”

Fourth in the Gr.1 Railway at Ellerslie when caught in the slowest part of the course, Start Wondering settled in behind the pace before striding to the front 200m from home for regular jockey Johnathan Parkes.

“It’s amazing – when it rained we thought we didn’t have a show,” JJ Rayner said. “It was a great ride by Johnathan.”

The gelding dug deep in the final stages to keep the challenge of Packing Eagle at bay with the longshot Brilliant Shine taking third money ahead of Ronchi.

Last season, Start Wondering finished runner-up in the Group 1 Haunui Farm WFA Classic (1600m) after his Te Rapa success and he is again likely to head to the Otaki feature.

The disappointment of Saturday’s race was the warm favourite Kawi, who was gunning for the eighth Group 1 victory of his career.

However, he was on the back foot early after he missed the start before he picked up ground 600m from home. The son of Savabeel was widest into the straight, but he was never a threat in the run home and finished sixth.

Last season’s champion sprinter is heading to the BCD Group Sprint (1400m) on February 10 none the worse for wear after finishing out of the money in the Group 1 Telegraph (1200m), in which he was narrowly beaten 12 months ago, at Trentham.

“He galloped really well this morning so he’s on target,” said the Wanganui horseman, who trains with his daughter JJ.

Start Wondering finished a courageous fourth two runs back in the Group 1 Railway (1200m) at Ellerslie after being caught in the slowest part of the course from his inside gate.

The seven-year-old was also out of luck at Wellington where he was forced to race wide from an outside gate.

“He was four and five away from the fence across the junction and the jockeys were saying that it was quite off out there,” Rayner said.

“He’s the sort of horse that if something upsets him he doesn’t try an inch.”

Start Wondering was in contention at the top of the straight before dropping out to beat only two runners home.

For piece of mind, Rayner had Start Wondering fully vetted on his return home.

“We got him fully checked out, the vet went all over him and couldn’t find anything physically wrong at all,” he said.

The Evan and JJ Rayner-trained gelding was nutted late by Signify in last year’s race, the nose defeat robbing him of a Group One treble, having flanked that performance with wins in the Railway (1200m) at Ellerslie and NRM Sprint (1400m) at Te Rapa.

“We thought he was home,” Evan Rayner lamented.

“I said going into the race ‘the only thing that will beat him was a lightweight coming from behind’ and that’s exactly how it turned out.”

Start Wondering has warmed up for his shot at Telegraph redemption with a second placing in the Listed Levin Stakes (1200m) and a brave last-start fourth in the Gr.1 Railway (1200m) on a deteriorating slow 8 track at Ellerslie.

“He’s as well as we can have him. His work was good again this morning,” Rayner said.

“We just hope there’s not too much rain in Wellington. I was surprised how well he did go at Auckland. We decided to run him because it would have been too long between races if we scratched.

“He handled it far better than we expected. It was only when Johnathan [Parkes, jockey] let his head go to ride him out that he started floundering.”

TAB bookmakers opened Start Wondering as a $7.20 fifth favourite for the Telegraph, with the Steve and Jo Gudsell-raced seven-year-old facing a possible tactics change after drawing barrier 14 in the 18-horse field.

“I would have preferred a better draw but we’ll go ahead and run him and if the track does deteriorate, the wide draw might be more favourable,” Rayner said.

“We’ll ride him a bit colder and have a late run at them. We just think if we go forward from there, it would leave him wide open to being shot down late again. There are some very good lightweight horses there and there will be a lot of speed on, which will help us.

“We’re as confident as we can be. There might be a lightweight that shoots us down again but we’re very happy with him.”

Rayner said safely through the Telegraph, Start Wondering would return to Te Rapa to defend his title in the Gr.1 NRM Sprint (1400m) on February 10 and while he was open to most options after that, another trip to Australia was off the table.

“He hasn’t had a lot of racing so we’ll assess what’s available after Te Rapa but he won’t be going back to Australia again. We’ve been there and done that now,” he said

THE pathway for Start Wondering’s upcoming campaign is not going to deviate too far from the successful season the horse experienced last time out.

The gelding was crowned New Zealand’s Champion Sprinter following his group one victories in last season’s Railway Stakes and the NRM Sprint. The seven-year-old was narrowly denied a clean sweep of the short course majors when runner-up in the Telegraph.

Start Wondering’s co-trainer Evan Rayner, who prepares the horse alongside his daughter J. J. from their Wanganui base, said those three prestige events would again be the focus of the upcoming campaign.

“He’s been back in work a bit over four weeks and he had his first quiet run up the straight last week. He looks great and we’re very happy with him.”

The winner of 10 of his 21 starts, Start Wondering opened its last preparation with victory in the Listed Legacy Lodge Sprint and the November event may again be his starting point.

“We had to go up to Te Rapa to find a suitable race and we’ll probably go up there this time,” Rayner said.

The stable is also looking forward to the spring returns of the promising gallopers Loch Ness and Regal Winks.

“We’re just waiting for the right race for Loch Ness,” Rayner said. “Regal Winks had a little setback when she knocked a leg in a gallop and it took a while to settle down, but she’s back in full work now.”

Loch Ness, a half-sister to barn mate Perfect Harmonee, won two of its three starts during the winter and Regal Winks has also suffered just one defeat in three appearances.