Watch Black Swan glide home in Race 3

Black Swan and Mighty Emperor look set to fight it out in tonight's $80,000 Class 3 event over the Polytrack 1,700m in Race 3 at Kranji.

They both ran well last time out on Jan 12 when second and fourth respectively behind Maximus over the Poly 1,600m and are bound to improve.

On handicap, Black Swan appears to have the upperhand.

Besides finishing one-and-a-quarter lengths ahead of Mighty Emperor, Black Swan is also 1kg better off on their last encounter in the Kranji Stakes C event.

While Mighty Emperor is down 1kg to 57kg, Black Swan gets a 2kg relief to 56kg.

Black Swan's last-start run was top-notch.

The Steven Burridge-trained five-year-old had to race wide from the rear and he flew at the business-end o f the race.

The Big Valley-owned chestnut gelding got to within two-and-a-half lengths of the winner, who is not a bad sort.

By finishing second, Black Swan endorsed his consistency, finishing out of the first three only once from his last seven starts. For the record, his last victory three runs back on Oct 20 was full of merits.

Then ridden by Michael Rodd, who will again be at the helm tonight, he romped home by five-and-three-quarter lengths.

Not only was the winning margin big, Black Swan rewrote the Polytrack 1,800m course record with his time of 1min 51.07sec.

So, with his sheer consistency and good recent form, he should glide home to his fourth success from 33 starts.

Although Mighty Emperor went with the pace and then finished fourth, he can give Black Swan a run for the money.

Drawn gate 2, compared to gate 10 last start, the Ricardo Le Grange-trained seven-time winner (all on the Poly) will draw first blood and just have to keep going to fend off Black Swan.