TAB Black Mountain Preview by Neil Evans

A freshened-up Canberra powerhouse is set to relaunch with a bang in Friday's headline Black Mountain Quality sprint at Thoroughbred Park.

Vella's Best, a sparingly-raced five-year-old in the local Gratz Vella stable, hasn't started since digging in hard to win a Benchmark 72 Hcp over 1000m on the Kensington track at Randwick in late July.

That capped another progressive campaign for the son of Headwater who had placed in two runs prior - a deeper BM 78 at Randwick where he was swamped late and narrowly beaten in a BM 87 Federal here on the synthetic.

Given he has won three from four when on the fresh side, the 1000m dash of the Black Mountain looks right up his alley, jumping from a handy draw which should see him settle right behind the speed.

While Vella's Best would prefer a little more "sting" out of the surface, the $50K showdown under Quality non-claiming conditions will likely be run on a Good 4, with dry weather forecast over the next 48 hours.

The rail is out 3m leaving those on or nearer the speed with a likely advantage for much of the day.

Despite being somewhat of a stable support act behind Golden Slipper-placed Music Time, Vella's Best maintains a ruthless attitude and can take his imposing strike rate to nearly 45 percent from 17 starts if he claims the Black Mountain.

And he won't have to look far for the likely dangers.

Rival seven-year-old home tracker Fine Vintage will be hard to hold out returning for his first outing since late autumn.

He won two from three across deeper metropolitan sprints up to BM 78 level earlier in the year, both times surging home from just off the speed.

A poor run in the Town Plate at Wagga over 1200m saw him sent for a spell, but he's reportedly been working well in preparation for a serious fresh tilt in the Black Mountain.

A sparingly raced son of Supido in the Luke Pepper yard, Fine Vintage has to overcome a wide draw but brings in an imposing near 40 percent winning strike rate heading into his 30th start.

And talented local six-year-old Action King also looms as a real contender, peaking fourth-up from the inside barrier.

A versatile son of prolific Harry Angel in the Rob Potter stable, Action King swept home to easily win a BM 85 Federal (1080m) here two starts ago, before a solid closing run in a BM 72 at Warwick Farm.

My BLACK MOUNTAIN Tips:

1. VELLA'S BEST

2. Action King

3. Fine Vintage

4. My Last Hooray

Good Luck

NEIL EVANS