Race favourite Dig Deep has suffered an early blow drawing out wide in barrier 10 for Saturday’s 2019 WA Guineas at Ascot Racecourse.

Railway Stakes Day headlines the weekend’s racing action with the Perth Summer Carnival hosting its first Group 1 race meet of the season.

The key support act on the card sees the three-year-old milers face off in the lucrative Group 2 $500,000 W.A. Guineas (1600m).

The set weights clash attracted a dozen final acceptances with the all-in favourite in WA Guineas betting at Ladbrokes.com.au being the Daniel & Ben Pearce-trained Dig Deep.

The Deep Field gelding is looking to return to winning form fourth-up on Saturday.

As a juvenile back in April he scored an upset Group 2 success in the Karrakatta Plate (1200m) but hasn’t won since.

His two latest starts over 1200m and 1400m respectively at the Ascot track have produced back-to-back Black-Type thirds, with improvement expected as he gets out over a mile for the first time in the WA Guineas.

Following Dig Deep ($3.50) in the WA Guineas odds online are then Superstorm ($5) and Jericho Missile ($5.50) drawn in gates eight and 12 respectively.

Star father-daughter training duo Grant & Alana Williams saddle-up last start winner Superstorm as part of their three-horse assault on this year’s WA Guineas field.

The improving son of Sebring has his fourth career start in the half-a-million-dollar showdown after breaking his maiden status over 1400m in a Class 1 at the track back on Melbourne Cup Day.

William Pike rode Superstorm that day and Perth’s premiere hoop retains the ride in the tougher assignment on the weekend.

“We’ve always had a bit of an opinion of him. It just took him a couple of starts to get the win on the board and when he finally did, he did it in style,” Pike said on RSN this week.

“I think he’s coming good at the right time.”

The other Williams-trained runners in this year’s race are Bogart (3) and Redoute’s Choice filly Special Choice (4) who comes off a fourth in the Group 3 WA Champion Fillies Stakes (1600m) from last weekend.

Jericho Missile meanwhile represents Serpentine-based horseman David Harrison, the Smart Missile gelding in great form this prep.

Two back he won the Listed Belgravia Stakes (1200m) before a devastatingly close second in the Listed Fairetha Stakes (1400m) on November 9.

Giving away plenty of weight carrying 59kg and 58kg respectively in those runs, Jericho Missile should appreciate the drop back to 56.5kg on Saturday with Paul Harvey retaining the ride.

The horse that beat him home in the Fairetha was Red Can Man, Steve Wolfe’s Gingerbread Man chestnut chasing back-to-back wins this Saturday from gate five.

The other standouts in the mix are Godolphin-raced Widespread drawn the rails and coming off successive Melbourne wins in November, and Neville Parnham’s Playing God filly Kay Cee who ran third in last Saturday’s Champion Fillies event.

See below for the full WA Guineas 2019 field and barriers, the latest odds available here thanks to Ladbrokes.com.au.

2019 WA Guineas Final Field & Barrier Draw

#	Form (Last 10)	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Barrier	Weight	Hcp. Rating
1	141×733	DIG DEEP	Daniel & Ben Pearce	Damien Oliver	10	56.5kg	82
2	1x120x512	JERICHO MISSILE	David Harrison	Paul Harvey	12	56.5kg	82
3	2x33x1141	RED CAN MAN	Steve Wolfe	Peter Knuckey	5	56.5kg	66
4	175×11	WIDESPREAD	James Cummings	Brad Rawiller	1	56.5kg
5	151×344	WAR SAINT	Neville Parnham	Chris Parnham	2	56.5kg	66
6	321	SUPERSTORM	Grant & Alana Williams	William Pike	8	56.5kg	60
7	1×575	BOGART	Grant & Alana Williams	Peter Hall	3	56.5kg	64
8	31	THREE EZE	Lou Luciani	Jason Whiting	9	56.5kg	60
9	411213	KAY CEE	Neville Parnham	Steven Parnham	7	54.5kg	65
10	2×124	SPECIAL CHOICE	Grant & Alana Williams	Brenton Avdulla	4	54.5kg	66
11	1x	MONTELENA	Darren Mcauliffe	Ben Paterson	6	54.5kg	62
12	90×2236	NATIVE CHIMES	Justin Warwick	Lucy Warwick	11	54.5kg	56