Rain Affair is preparing to meet rival Hay List once again in the Group 2 Challenge Stakes at Rosehill this Saturday.

Rain Affair

Rain Affair is preparing to meet Hay List in the Challenge Stakes - photo (c) Steve Hart

The two met once before in the Newmarket Handicap earlier this month, where Rain Affair finished sixth and Hay List passed the post in first.

Rain Affair will be hoping to turn the tables when the two line up against each other once again this weekend.

Trainer Joseph Pride is confident Rain Affair will be at the top of his game come Saturday’s race.

“The horse is great, really happy with him,” Pride said.

“He’s come through the Melbourne experience well.

“There’s been no change in his attitude which is good.

“I don’t like to see too much change in horses. He is still quite bullish around the place and a little bit stroppy and hard to handle. That’s him.

“You wouldn’t want to see him any other way.”

The Newmarket Handicap marked the end to a truly impressive winning streak from Rain Affair, which saw him win all but one of his previous 11 races.

The Commands gelding has won 10 of his 12 race starts in total and has earned more than $620,000 in prize money.

While the four-year-old has experiences success in Group races such as the Group 2 Expressway Stakes and Group 2 Apollo Stakes, the Group 1 has so far eluded him.

Pride is hopeful Hay List will accept for the $175,000 Challenge Stakes.

“I’m kind of a looking forward to a rematch with Hay List if we can get it,” Pride said.

Since his Newmarket start, Rain Affair has been galloping at his home track of Warwick Farm in preparation for this Saturday’s race.

Pride is hopeful that Rosehill will experience some rain in the coming days in order to make the job easier for Rain Affair, who is true to his name.

“They are saying five to ten millimetres over Wednesday, Thursday, Friday which would be enough,” he said.

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