Fitness, form and Warwick Farm.

They are the key ingredients trainer Bjorn Baker is hoping can help Havana Rey measure up against some of the country's best gallopers at Warwick Farm on Saturday.

The four-year-old is among the 14 acceptances for the Chipping Norton Stakes (1600m), the first Group One race of the Sydney autumn.

"You're never confident going into a big race like this but I think he's going to be at the peak of his powers and he comes into the race in great form, he's very fit and he goes well at Warwick Farm," Baker said.

Havana Rey has won five of his six starts at the track with his only blip an inglorious last as an odds-on favourite three starts ago.

That failure was put down to blinkers which caused him to over-race and they have been removed for his two subsequent starts which have yielded successive wins.

But Saturday is by far his biggest assignment.

Not only is he untested at the top level, he is untried in stakes company.

Baker is the first to admit he is throwing Havana Rey in the deep end.

"Very much so. But you've got to be in it to win it," Baker said.

"It's a big ask but his last win, it threw him into open company. He's in with the big boys now so we're going right in the deep end."

Baker will also be making a Group One debut of sorts.

He has won races at the highest level with horses like Nom Du Jeu and Lion Tamer while in partnership with his father Murray in New Zealand, but Havana Rey will be his first Group One runner since he branched out on his own in Sydney 18 months ago.

Meanwhile, with track manager Lindsay Murphy anticipating a good to dead surface at Warwick Farm, trainer Roger James has confirmed New Zealand mare Silent Achiever will take her place in the Chipping Norton.

James was considering keeping her at home if Warwick Farm looked like being wet but the favourable weather report has convinced him to make the trip to Sydney.

He is now all but committed to a start to keep her autumn program on track.

"If she were not to run she wouldn't get to a Ranvet or a BMW. We would have to alter and come back to a Doncaster or something like that," James told Sky Sports Radio.