Some tricky draws have dampened the enthusiasm of Chiltern trainer Peter Romero landing a winner at the Albury Paceway on New Year's Eve.
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Romero will target the meeting with four pacers in Keayang Crippa, Jilliby Panda, Tizzy Lizzie and Jilliby Fabio.
Keayang Crippa, Jilliby Panda and Jilliby Fabio are all owned by local harness racing enthusiast Tom Gemmell who also runs his own concreting business, Hard As Concreters.
The pair combined at last year's New Year's Eve meeting to win with Rambuctious who lobbed at double figure odds much to the delight of Gemmell who had a huge family contingent cheering on the Romero-trained pacer.
"We've copped some terrible barrier draws for New Year's Eve," Romero said.
"But that's racing and we will just need a bit of luck now.
"I guess Rambuctious caused a bit of an upset last year and the stable will be looking to do something similar this year as well."
Romero pinpointed Jilliby Fabio who will contest the $6936 2YO Pace, (1770m) as his best hope on the seven race card.
The promising two-year-old boasts metropolitan form at Melton as his past two starts including finishing runner-up two starts back.
Jilliby Fabio also gets the luxury of leading Victorian reinsman Nathan Jack who should help overcome the tricky gate of eight in the nine-horse field.
Romero said Jilliby Fabio is only a recent addition and had three starts for the stable since arriving earlier this month.
"As I said it's a challenging draw but we have got one of the best drivers in Victoria, so if anyone can find a way to win, I think Nathan will give the horse every chance," Romero said.
"His last two starts have been at Melton where he ran second in a heat of the Alabar Home Grown and then drew badly in the final and wasn't beaten real far when finishing sixth.
"So the horse is down in grade on his two most recent runs but drawing the awkward gate sort of nullifies that advantage.
"I would have been a lot more confident if he had drawn anywhere off the front row.
"I think he is a nice little horse in the making and will win his fair share of races as he grows in confidence.
"Tommy recently purchased three horses that I'm lucky enough to train for him and Jilliby Fabio is one of them.
"This will be his last race as a two-year-old so it would be nice to get the win before he starts as a three-year-old on January 1."
The Romero stable will also have a two-pronged attack in the $6936 NR Up To 55 Pace, (2170m) with stablemates Keayang Cripper and Jilliby Panda.
However, Romero was of the opinion that his next best stable hope was Tizzy Lizzie in the $14,994 The Wally Blezard 3YO Pace, (1770m) with junior driver Harry O'Neill to pilot.
Tizzie Lizzie has been bursting to win a race with five consecutive runner-up finishes before finishing third and unplaced at her two most recent runs.
Romero said the three-year-old filly's unplaced run at Leeton when a $2.10-pop was 'out of sorts'.
"It looks like a strong race with the nice prizemoney on offer," Romero said.
"But I think my filly is a nice pacer in the making.
"Last start was very out of sorts for her and she has worked well since and I had the vet go over her who could find nothing wrong.
"She ran second at Melton three starts back and her second at Wagga two starts back was a huge run considering she broke and lost a stack of ground and was right out the back.
"So to finish third was an enormous effort.
"You just have to forgive her for her last-start failure and she can definitely run a cheeky race if she finds her best form again."
