Herlihy hoping Temporale on song in Flying Stakes

THE last time Tony Herlihy took Temporale to Cambridge, he was full of confidence and went home with the spoils.

Tonight he is full of hope going into the Flying Stakes, the first leg of an openclass double at the track’s centenary meeting.

Auckland Cup winner Turn It Up is expected to lead and win the Flying Mile for the pacers, providing he can hold off the attentions of Jack’s Legend and Star Galleria at the start.

But he will be red hot, especially with New Zealand Cupwinning stablemate Thefixer likely to be back early from his wide draw and then parked from the bell.

While Turn It Up should continue his spectacular winning run his divvy may not be that attractive to most punters. But it is in the trotters’ sprint that there is money to be made based around three group 1 winners.

Speeding Spur returns after his Interdominion campaign but has the outside gate, while last week’s National Trot winner, Massive Metro, faces two significant hurdles: drawing the second line and an apparent aversion to lefthanded racing.

That means Temporale picks himself. Well, he does on his form of two starts ago, not so much on what he did last start.

Two starts ago he came here, took on similar opposition and sat parked for the last 800m to wear down stablemate The Almighty Johnson over a mile, more or less the same trip as tonight’s 1700m.

Herlihy tipped Temporale and he was backed in from $6 to $2.90.

Then a week later in the National Trot won by Massive Metro, Temporale galloped early and never trotted squarely.

‘‘We went over him and have had some chiropractic work done and his work has been good since, so I expect him to be better.’’

If he still has an issue Herlihy cannot put his finger on, then Speeding Spur might be able to turn the clock back. He won this race in 2016.