Danica Guy can’t wait to get to Ellerslie next month where her Group Three winner Lupo Solitario is set to have his first tilt at elite-level in the Gr.1 Proisir Plate (1400m).

The now six-year-old gelding was a standout for the Matamata trainer as a three-year-old, winning three of his six starts, including the Gr.3 Bonecrusher Stakes (1400m) where he beat subsequent Group One winner Orchestral, before he was sold to Hong Kong interests.

He had seven starts in the competitive racing jurisdiction for trainer Frankie Lor, but a race fall at Sha Tin knocked his confidence and a decision was made to send him back to his homeland after three subsequent unplaced runs.

He returned to Guy’s care, who took over the ownership of the son of Satono Aladdin, and she was rapt to see him return to his form of old when winning two of his five starts earlier this year, including the Gr.3 Easter Handicap (1600m) at Ellerslie in April.

Guy has been equally pleased with the way he is building into his spring preparation, which included an effortless placing in his 1100m trial at Te Rapa on Tuesday under jockey Erin Leighton.

“He handled it really well, did it all under his own steam and pulled up well, which is great,” Guy said.

Lupo Solitario will now get a deserved tilt at weight-for-age company.

“Hopefully we will go fresh-up into the Proisir Plate at Ellerslie,” Guy said. “It’s a Group One field and there will be nowhere to hide in it, but I would definitely like to give him a crack at it.

“I think he is getting better all the time too. He is getting healthier and his feet are getting better, we are definitely going in the right direction to look at a nice target like that.”

Guy is also eyeing the second leg of the Spring Triple Crown, the Gr.1 Howden Insurance Mile (1600m) at Hastings, but will refrain from entering the Gr.1 Livamol Classic (2040m).

“I do think he will run 2000m but I am more interested in trying him out over that sort of trip close to Christmas,” Guy said. “I just want to keep him up to a mile for the early part of the season.”

Lupo Solitario has yet to venture to the Central Districts, but Guy believes he will be well suited by the Hastings track when he contests the Howden Insurance Mile.

“I think most horses handle a nice Hastings track, it is a beautiful track providing it is not too wet,” she said. “If we don’t get any unseasonably wet weather, it should be well up his street.”

Guy also trialled two other members of her stable at Te Rapa, and she is particularly looking forward to the season ahead with three-year-old gelding Texas Cowboy.

“I really like Texas Cowboy,” she said. “He is not a wet tracker, but he trialled very well. I want to give him his chance at three, so he will have some nice targets.”

Another three-year-old Guy is excited about is Hokkaido Thunder, who could potentially be her Derby horse later in the season.

“He is very unique, he is 17.2 (hands), so he is huge and very imposing,” she said. “He just looks like a jumbo version of Lupo, so if he is half as good as him, I will be rapt.

“He jumped out with Lupo the other day and smoked him, but that is not hard to do because Lupo is a pretty lazy track worker, but it was still nice and he is on the right trajectory.

“I am not in too much of a rush with him, I think you will see the best of him once we get on top of the ground over a mile-plus.

“I am no sure whether he will get a Derby trip, but you always want to have a go, they are only three once and I have unfinished business in that Derby. It would be nice to think that he could be a Derby horse.”