Glyn Schofield and Boban are a team, which is hard to beat when everything is right. Four times in group 1 races they have got it right, but never by a big margin.
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Heads and necks have delivered an Epsom, Emirates Stakes and the Doomben 10,000 in May. The Chipping Norton Stakes victory in March 2014 by a length from It's A Dundeel is the exception in his group 1 wins.
Boban needs a dry track, a cold ride and most of all confidence.
"He is dynamic to ride when he is right," Schofield said. "He is quirky to ride and you have to do everything right on him at the right time. I was lucky that I worked him out early.
"If you are length closer [than you should be] he will not give that [dynamic] feeling. Everyone knows the turn of foot he has and when he is on song it is exciting."
For the second year in a row, Boban turns up to the first group 1 of the season as favourite in the Memsie Stakes at Caulfield on Saturday, but this time there is real confidence about him.
Boban lost his mojo this time last year. It took a while for it to be worked out and in the end hindsight was a wonderful thing.
Following his Chipping Norton win last year, he lost form. A wet track took care of his chances in the George Ryder Stakes and then he bled for the first time in Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
That seemed to zap him and a spring campaign, which included a fifth in the Memsie Stakes, was disappointing. He never fired in the autumn either. That campaign finished when he beat one home in the Chipping Norton Stakes, the race he had won brilliantly 12 months earlier.
"He had that little period for about a year where he didn't come up. It came after he had those health issues," Schofield said. "He is definitely a confidence horse and he might have lost that confidence."
Chris Waller searched for answers and didn't give up on Boban. He freshened him up and gave him a couple of barrier trials before heading to Queensland for the winter.
Even the trainer admitted after he came from last on the turn to win the Doomben 10,000 he had his doubts about Boban returning to that brilliant best.
He would back that up by being runner-up in the Stradbroke Handicap, which meant the trip north banked almost $900,000 in stakes but much more. Boban had found his form.
Waller has used the same type of preparation to get him to the Caulfield 1400 metres first-up, where he is already a group 3 winner in sizzling fashion.
"Those couple of runs in Brisbane has that confidence back and he has trialled supremely well, especially his first trial. He has a little residual fitness going into Saturday from Brisbane," Schofield said.
"He looks good, feels good and hopefully he races well."
There is only one way to ride Boban and that is back, and in the capacity field Schofield will hope there is enough speed to allow him to unwind his finishing burst.
In an open betting race, Boban is $5 into $4.80 after impressing good judges at the trials, but the track conditions will play a role in what price he ends up. If rain comes Boban will not start top pick, that honour will probably be handed to Volkstok'n'barrell, which is an $8 second favourite, or the other Waller-trained runner Weary, which is $9.50 at Ladbrokes.
