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By Ray Hickson

If there’s any chinks in the armour of The Hunter favourites then Prime Candidate will find them out.

That’s the message from trainer Bjorn Baker who expects his consistent front-running gelding to make the likes of Lost And Running and Top Ranked carry their weight if they’re to run him down.

Prime Candidate, $17 with TAB in the $1m The Hunter (1300m) at Newcastle on Saturday, benefits from a significant weight drop on his recent efforts and Baker said that could be key.

“We’ll be positive with him and be trying to lead. Up on speed is his running style,’’ Baker said.

“As long as he has a bit of luck in the run and gets a breather he will be hard to beat. He’s rock hard fit and we have a good weight so we’ll want to be rolling along.”

The seven-year-old has finished third in each of his spring runs, twice behind Big Parade including the Group 3 Sydney Stakes and his last start behind Quantico at Flemington.

He hasn’t won since September last year but drops 4.5kg on his past two starts so Baker said he gets his chance.

Prime Candidate runs third in the Sydney Stakes at Randwick

“His form has been really good lately, we’ve been thrilled with him,’’ he said.

“He gets into the race with no weight so we’re happy with that. It’s a tough race and you hope for the best but he looks fantastic and we can’t fault him.”

The Warwick Farm trainer is enthusiastic about the chances of Kiss The Bride in the inaugural $300,000 The Beauford (2300m) on the back of his last start third behind Think It Over.

Kiss The Bride came from last in the Rosehill Gold Cup (2000m) and clocked a race best last 600m of 33.44 (Punter’s Intelligence) but Baker expects he won’t be conceding so much start this time.

The gelding, $5 with TAB on Thursday, led all the way to win over a mile four runs ago and his racing pattern is generally to be in the first half of the field, which is what the trainer hopes will happen from a favourable barrier.

“He’s never looked better, his last run was excellent and we’re really happy with him. He’s been running well,’’ he said.

“If we can put him in his comfort zone he should be primed to finish off well.”

Of his other Newcastle runners, Baker said War Eternal can improve sharply in the Group 3 NZB Spring Stakes (1600m): “It was a good run last week, he was caught deep and back to three-year-old company suits him.”

While Canasta, who resumes in the Hunter Valley Premium Meats T-Bone Steaks Handicap (1300m) may need the run but is “bright and well”. Miss Einstein is dual accepted between Newcastle and Canterbury and at time of writing a decision hadn’t been made.

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday's The Hunter meeting at Newcastle