High-flying trainer Todd Pollard has mapped out a bold Sydney assault for his classy mare Midnight In Tokyo, eyeing a pair of lucrative black-type targets at Royal Randwick before pointing her towards a summer carnival campaign on home soil.

Pollard, who only launched his training career in March after cutting his teeth as an assistant to Annabel and Rob Archibald, has already stamped himself as one of the most exciting young operators in the country.

The Eagle Farm horseman currently boasts a remarkable 20 per cent winning strike-rate and his sights are firmly set on NSW black-type as the next prize.

Either the Toy Show Quality (1100m) or the Show County Quality (1200m) – both $250,000 Group 3s at Royal Randwick on August 22 – loom as the opening assignment for Midnight In Tokyo, before she steps up to the $300,000 Group 2 Sheraco Stakes (1200m) at Rosehill Gardens three weeks later.

• Jace the ace lands Doomben four-timer before birthday

“It’s a somewhat ambitious plan but I do think she’s got the ability if we have her right to run well enough in those races,” Pollard said.

“If she can find a typical Sydney wet track at that time of year, then that’s terrific and brings her well into it.”

The gutsy mare returns to work in fine fettle following a short freshen-up after her gut-busting effort in the Group 1 Tattersall’s Tiara (1400m) at Eagle Farm on June 27, when she finished 12th out of 17 runners.

“I thought she was very good in the Tatt’s Tiara where she was three-wide, no cover the whole way,” Pollard said.

“She’s still got a good shine to her coat so she’s healthy and ready to go again.”

• Gollan eyes $3m Magic Millions target with young gun

Beyond Sydney, the Queensland summer carnival presents a glittering array of options.

Midnight In Tokyo placed in the past two editions of the Nudgee Stakes (1200m) at Eagle Farm in early January – a race that offers a golden ticket into the $1m Magic Millions Fillies & Mares (1300m) contest on the Gold Coast.

“The summer carnival is very enticing, there’s a few Listed races there and she won two of them last year,” Pollard said.

“But first and foremost we’ll have a crack at two races in Sydney and if she doesn’t run well, that’s fine, at least we’re trying to get NSW black-type on the page for her.

“There’ll always be a really good horse in those races and deep, strong fields so she’ll have to be at her best.

“But I think her last two preparations have been her best and she’s going as well as she can be.”

Meanwhile, Pollard has received a timely confidence boost from his four-year-old All Kinds Of Folk, who saluted in a $160,000 Benchmark 78 (1800m) at Randwick on a heavy track earlier this month.

The mare, kept in Sydney off the back of that barnstorming victory, will line up in a similar contest at the same track this Saturday.

“She raced without a lot of luck during her whole preparation, barrier draws, things like that, so for all of that to culminate in a win at Randwick was fantastic,” Pollard said.

“You’re sort of happy to race without luck to get that win at Randwick. It was a tough win and she needs those heavy tracks.”