Can Geary’s Ego outshine them all?

He was regarded as Australia’s ‘heir apparent’ to the title of harness racing’s best pacer as recently as December.

And his reinsman was also hailed as one of our most promising when he began landing winner after winner while still a teenager at Menangle.

So why can’t Expensive Ego and Chris Geary win tonight’s $1m Garrards Miracle Mile at Tabcorp Park Menangle?

Add the fact ‘Ego’ is trained by one of Australia’s leading trainers, Belinda McCarthy and you’d have to say ‘yes, he can win’.

After all, his run for fourth in last weekend’s Schweppes Sprint behind Spirit Of St Louis, was one of the runs of the night and almost demanded his inclusion in Australasia’s richest sprint.

And while his Team McCarthy stablemates King Of Swing and Spirit Of St Louis will jostle for favouritism, Geary is quite happy to ‘fly under the radar’ and go in as their third stringer tonight and bound to make his presence felt at some stage in the 1609m dash.

Geary drove Salty Robyn in the 2017 Miracle Mile when unplaced behind Lennytheshark.

No prizes for guessing he’d love to finish on the podium tonight.

“Anyone growing up in this industry would have this and the Inter Dom on their bucket list . . . especially in your home state and on your home track,” he said.

“There is no doubt he’s a great horse and there’s been talk about his form going off, but his run last weekend was super.

“He did a lot of work in a fast-run race and they only just got to him halfway up the straight.

“If anything, he’s shown a couple of tough runs seem to bring him on.

“I’m sure Luke and Belinda will be happy to leave it up to me as to how he’s driven.

“But I’m sure if the right horse turns up tonight, he is more than capable of winning – or if not, finishing in the top three.”

Geary has driven Expensive Ego plenty of times before at McCarthy’s place and drove him as an early two-year-old in a trial.

“He’s obviously grown up a lot and is a different horse now,” said Geary.

“Anytime you get asked to drive a topline horse it’s great. Drives like this are hard to come by.”

Geary has obviously played out a lot of scenarios in his mind, but suggests his draw (six) is as good, if not better, than most of his rivals.

Tonight, we’ll see.

To view the fields for Menangle on Saturday night click here.

By Michael Court for HRNSW