“They’ll know he’s in the race first up.”

So said trainer Clayton Douglas ahead of Giga Kick’s assault on Australia’s first Group 1 of 2026, this Saturday’s Black Caviar Lightning at Flemington.

An understandable response might be, “You’d hope so.”

Still, you can see what Douglas means. When you’ve got a sprinter as good as Giga Kick running at weight-for-age with the “Flemington straight” box already ticked, the only query is whether he’s ready to go first up at 1000 metres with richer races ahead over more suitable trips.

Giga Kick’s only 1000-metre win came (at Flemington) at his second start, as a late-season two-year-old in July 2022. Since then he’s had three starts at the trip for two thirds and a fifth.

It’s probably for that reason another last-start Flemington 1200-metre Group 1 winner, Tentyris, has been preferred in the betting since the Lightning market opened.

The odd thing about that is that Tentyris has never won at 1000 metres. His only try came on debut in the Chairman’s Stakes, and he ran fifth.

The good news for supporters of Giga Kick and Tentyris is that a lack of distance credentials didn’t stop Skybird last year.

She’d never raced at less than 1100 metres or placed at less than 1200 when she won the 2025 Lightning.

You may recall that three-year-old colts dominated the betting that day, with Switzerland (fourth), Growing Empire (seventh) and Traffic Warden (fifth) at the top of the market.

Skybird ($26) was the roughest winner in the Lightning’s 71-year history but upsets aren’t uncommon, as you’d expect given 25 of the past 28 winners have been resuming.

In fact, the only winning favourites this century have been genuine freaks — Takeover Target, Miss Andretti, Black Caviar (x3), Chautauqua and Imperatriz.