Co-trainer Lyn Tolson expects the home turf benefit to help offset the class jump as classy mare Pop Award re-enters Stakes ranks this Saturday.

The five-year-old is down for her first Mornington appearance in the $200,000 Listed Hareeba Stakes (1200m), the premier sprint on the Mornington Cup card.

After winning a 1100m mares’ handicap at Flemington on March 28 to end her win drought, Tolson regards this 1200m feature at her home venue as the perfect slot for black-type glory.

“Mornington is her home track, so if we could draw a gate it’d be good,” Tolson, who trains in partnership with daughter Leonie Proctor, said.

“From what we can read, it’s going to be a bit stronger Hareeba than we’ve had, but you can’t keep them in cotton wool all the time at home in their box all the time, can you?”

The Hareeba Stakes, with 27 nominations, features potential challengers to Pop Award including Half-brothers Desert Lightning and Oak Hill, Punch Lane, Corniche, Big Swinger, Recommendation and Rosberg.

Shamus Award filly Pop Award seeks to repeat her Listed success from the 1200m Regal Roller Stakes at Caulfield in August last year.

It’s her standout win among six from 13 career starts.

On Soft or Heavy tracks in five runs, she claimed three victories, and Tolson welcomes the anticipated Thursday-Friday rainfall.

“She does appreciate a bit of give in the track and she did a lot of racing last prep, when she wasn’t going any good, on firmer going and she just likes the sting out,” Tolson said.

“So, hopefully Mornington is not too hard, but she’s an honest mare and she’s trained on well from her last race.”

Tolson has the $150,000 Group 3 Proud Miss Stakes (1200m) in Adelaide on May 9 lined up as a next target for Pop Award contingent on a solid Hareeba Stakes effort.

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