The odds suggest top jockey Leith Innes could have a fantastic day at one of New Zealand's richest race meetings, but it may depend on the weather.

Of the six Group races scheduled at Ellerslie on New Year's Day, TAB bookies rate Innes' mounts as favourite in four of them, and the second favourite in another.

Four of those five mounts - Waterford, More Than Sacred, Vinnie Eagle and Sacred Star - are from the small but powerful Cambridge stable of Tony Pike and Mark Donoghue.

But unsettled weather over the Christmas-New Year period means the track is dead, and Innes says any more rain won't help him.

"All of them are in the same boat - the firmer the better for them actually," Innes told NZ Newswire.

A fine and relatively blustery Tuesday is firming the track up, but showers forecast for Wednesday afternoon could put a damper on some of Innes' chances.

Waterford is a narrow favourite for the Group One Railway Stakes (1200m) after coming from last to win the listed Counties Bowl in November, despite running greenly.

"She does a few things wrong, but she's going in the right direction," Innes said.

"I wouldn't want to be on anything else."

More Than Sacred, last season's New Zealand Oaks winner, is a short-priced favourite for the Group Two City of Auckland Cup (2400m) after winning her last three, including the Waikato Cup, but Innes said her task from barrier 19 isn't easy.

"She's gone up a little bit in the weights and the wide draw's probably not going to suit her that well," he said.

Innes' other favourites are the two-year-old Vinnie Eagle in the Group Three Eclipse Stakes (1200m) and the three-year-old filly Lucia Valentina in the Group Two Royal Stakes (2000m).

Lucia Valentina is rated favourite despite dumping Innes after clipping heels in the Great Northern Guineas on Boxing Day, oddsmakers rating her highly after a stylish victory in the Wellington Stakes in November.

Innes' other leading chance is Sacred Star, narrowly rated second-favourite behind Diademe in the Group Two Rich Hill Mile (1600m) after three consecutive victories in lower grades.