All trainers love a consistent racehorse but sometimes their consistency can work against them which is the case for one of the chances in the Metropolitan Civil Contractors Benchmark 80 Handicap (1200m) at Randwick on Saturday.
The Kim Waugh-trained Calabasas resumes from a spell off a couple of eye-catching efforts at the trials but the son of Snitzel has proved a hard horse to place according to his trainer.
Calabasas is a first foal out of Waugh's former stakes-placed mare Kimillsy and he's only returned to the winner's circle on one occasion from 12 starts but it's his six placings that make his trainer's task tricky.
"He's a tough horse to place," Waugh said.
"You look at his record and he's only won one from 12 but he's one of those horses that pays for his consistency.
"He's a horse I have to run out of his class because you can't run him in a class one because they'd give him 63 kilos and if I ran him in a class two he'd get 61-1/2 (kilos) and he's not an overly big horse.
"It's always nice to let a horse go through their grades but sometimes you're forced to race horses out of their grade because of their rating profile and that's the case with Calabasas."
Calabasas's sole win and four of his six placings have come in the past when resuming or second-up and with the aid of a soft gate on Saturday Waugh believes the four-year-old has a good chance to add another solid result to his race record.
"He's come back in great shape and he's going very well," she said. "I'm very happy with him and he's drawn nice in barrier 2 which is good.
"Do I think he's up to a race like this? Yes, I do and from the soft gate he'll run well.
"He's going every bit as good, maybe even better than he has in the past. I just wish the track was going to have a bit of juice in it."
Calabasas is at $10 with Sportsbet and he will carry 54kg after the 1.5kg claim for Andrew Adkins while the stable's other runner for the day on Saturday is Hetty Heights in the Group III Angst Stakes (1600m).
Placed in her past two starts at Stakes level, Hetty Heights has again fallen foul of a barrier draw, allocated gate 12 in the field of 14.
"She's going as well as she ever has but she just can't draw a barrier," Waugh said.
"I went through her record this year and in eight runs she's only drawn a gate twice and she ran well in both of those races over shorter trips earlier this prep.
"She wants the mile and if she could have drawn a gate should would have settled that big closer on Saturday.
"From barrier 12, it just carves her up because we've probably got to go right back again. Anyway, we've just got to try to work out how to overcome it.
"Her last two runs have been super and if she can get a nice run she'll be right in the finish."
Former champion Sydney jockey Larry Cassidy returns to his old stomping ground on Saturday and rides Hetty Heights, a $15 chance in the set weights and penalties event.
