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Any form line involving the unbeaten Hasselhoof is a valuable reference and one present at Tauranga on Wednesday likely to be worth following is Escalate.

The lightly-tried filly has made an encouraging start to her career and she looks a strong chance to open her account in the NZB Insurance Pearl Series Race.

Prepared by Gary Alton, the three-year-old was put aside after her debut fourth at Taupo in the spring and she returned last month to finish a game second.

Escalate was beaten at Ruakaka by the Donna Logan runner Silencer, who had previously run second to his exciting stablemate Hasselhoof, a subsequent 11 length winner in Rating 65 company.

“Any sort of form around Hasselhoof isn’t too bad is it,” Alton said. “My filly’s a nice sort, although she’s not the soundest so if it did rain it would help her. She would get through the ground all right.”

Michael Coleman rode Escalate in her first appearance at Taupo and he will be reunited with the daughter of Bachelor Duke at Tauranga. From a handy draw, they can be expected to be hard to roll.

Sian has returned a cheque in each of her last three appearances for trainer Ben Foote and with apprentice Viktoria Gatu retaining the ride her three kilo claim should again make them a competitive combination.

The highest-graded event on the card is the Rating 85 Vero 1600 in which Mistaar promises to go one better after runner-up finishes at her last two appearances.