Buster William blotted his normally consistent record with an unplaced run in the St Marys Cup on New Year’s Day but driver Rohan Hillier put it down to the grass track.

“Rohan said the track was just a little bit rough in places and the horse didn’t like it,” Campbell explained.

Buster William broke about the 700m and finished a distant sixth behind backmarker Black Centurian.

“He’ll be back on familiar territory this week where he’s had two starts for two wins so, as long as he gets away at the start, he should be alright,” Campbell said.

Buster William won his only two previous standing-start races prior to St Marys.

“But he didn’t get away very well in either of them – he was just better than his rivals,” Campbell said.

“He won’t want to muck about on Friday because it’s a good field.”

Campbell is looking forward to another successful meeting on his home track.

“The whole town gets behind it and a lot of people come down from Bridport so, with nice weather, it should be another good meeting,” he said.

“I think it’s grown in popularity since we went to Friday nights.”

Last year’s winner Full Speed Ahead returns for another crack at the cup but goes back 30m to share the back mark with Black Centurian who has been runner-up three years in a row.

Darren Weir begins his assault on the Tasmanian summer racing carnival at Elwick on Friday night.

Weir has Tasmanian-bred and part-owned filly Queen La Diva running against the males in the $100,000 Tasmanian Guineas.

Bred by Grenville Stud, Queen La Diva is by Snippetson and is a full sister to class galloper Kenjorwood.

She won at Bendigo and Sandown before a close third over 1400m at Flemington three weeks ago.

Queen La Diva comes up against some smart locals headed by The Inevitable and Gee Gee Secondover.

The meeting also features the Brighton Cup which has been robbed of some interest by the scratching of Count Da Vinci.

Craig Newitt will tick another item off his bucket list when he rides on King Island on Saturday.

Not surprisingly, he has a mount in all five races.

Newitt has always wanted to ride on King Island to emulate his mother, Virginia, who rode there in the 1980s.