Trainer Michael Costa will have two of the leading horses in the final race on the Gold Coast today

MICHAEL Costa believes he has two of the best horses in the final race on the Gold Coast today but says while a one-two finish is a real possibility, it is the performances to come that excites him most.

Trainer Michael Costa says favourite Malkara and China Plate are likely to get even better after their runs on the Gold Coast today. Picture: Regi Varghese.

MICHAEL Costa believes he has two of the best horses in the final race on the Gold Coast today but says while a one-two finish is a real possibility, it is the performances to come that excites him most.

The Gold Coast trainer has $3 favourite Malkara and $6 chance China Plate entered in the Become A GCTC Member Handicap (1300m) today.

Star Gold Coast jockey Dan Griffin will ride Malkara while Ryan Plumb will take to the saddle for China Plate.

Costa agreed Malkara deserved to be favourite but said there was a lot more to come from both three-year-olds as they looked to improve over different distances.

“I would be disappointed if Malkara didn’t run a cheeky race,” Costa said.

“I expect him to be competitive. Malkara is actually going extremely well in trackwork but he looks like a horse that needs the first-up run.

“If he was going second-up into this race or we’d had a trial under the belt I’d be confident in saying – based even on luck – I’d give him a big push.

“On his trackwork, I’m extremely happy but I’m just mindful that he may get to the 50m or 100m and just get a stitch.

“If he doesn’t win I expect he will be competitive and I’d tell everyone to follow him through his next couple of races because the horse is in very good order and I expect him to notch up a few wins pretty quickly.

“They are probably at either end of the spectrum, these two horses. China Plate is a big horse that is designed to get over a bit more ground and he is showing that this preparation.

Malkara has won one of his three runs and finished second at his last start while China Plate took his record to one win from four starts in his last run in Nowra.

It followed two second place finishes.

Costa said the goal was to get Malkara to a metropolitan meeting.

“The way Malkara is working at the moment I’d be confident he could go to the midweek level,” Costa said.

“The end goal is just going to be to see if we can get him into town and potentially win a town race but we are just taking it race by race at this stage in his prep.”