Sunlight and Beauty work together at The Valley (Image: Racing Photos)
Tony McEvoy is 'as confident as you can be going into a Group 1 contest' with flying filly Sunlight ahead of Friday night's Manikato Stakes.
The leading trainer is going for back-to-back wins in the Group 1 sprint after Hey Doc's victory last year, and says he has no qualms about stepping the filly up to the highest level against the older horses.
"I've got so much time for her, she's been a great competitor," he said.
"There's some arguments to say that she should be unbeaten and I would support those arguments.
"I've got a lot of faith in her, it is a very aggressive placement for a young filly but she's come up as favourite, so I'm not the only one who thinks she's got a chance, and I'm hoping the market has got it right."
WATCH: Hear from McEvoy
McEvoy has declared the three-year-old is in the best form of her career and that having drawn barrier three and needing to carry only 51kg gives her two advantages the stable has to capitalise on.
He says from that 'beautiful barrier' the stable intends to ride her positively and expects she'll be up in the first three.
Sunlight has raced 10 times for seven wins, including her most recent victories in the G3 Thoroughbred Club Stakes and the G3 Quezette Stakes, both at Caulfield this spring.
She's never raced at The Valley, but has worked there twice in the past week, including very sharply in front of a big crowd for Tuesday's Breakfast with the Best, and a special gallop for Manikato and Cox Plate runners last Saturday.
"She's great, she's a fantastic filly to train, she loves her work and since that gallop (on Tuesday) it's got her on a high, she's really been very fresh and bright and Sarah who rides her says 'Just bring on the race', she's ready to go and she was lovely and bouncy this morning so I'm really excited about having her in the race," he said.
"She's such a gross doer, so I've had to really keep the work up to her all the way through and that's why I was very happy to back her up in seven days because she's one of these horses that when you give her some work it really stimulates her and she gets on this plateau and so the closer to the race you can give her a bit of work the better."
Sunlight is the first filly to contest the Manikato Stakes since Transparent Lover in 1999 and if she is to win the race, she will become the first three-year-old to do so since colt Sepoy in 2011 and the first filly since Dual Choice in 1970.
For a detailed look at the history of the Manikato Stakes read Brad Bishop's History Says.