The connections of Keep The Peace took a punt in entering Saturday's AJC Derby, rather than next week's AJC Oaks, writes TONY BOURKE.

AS a jockey, Mick Dittman was one of the best seen in Australia over the past 40 years. At Randwick tomorrow, one of his favourite hunting grounds, ‘'The Enforcer'' as he was known, will be urging his filly Keep The Peace home from the grandstand in the $1.3 million AJC Australian Derby (2400m).

Dittman, 57, has always had a good eye for a horse and his judgement off the track has proved just as sound as it was when he was riding although it will be put to the test tomorrow with Keep The peace.

It was Dittman who urged his co-owners, his son Luke and good friend Paul Bellingham and trainer Shaun Ritchie to take on the Derby with Keep The Peace rather than aim for the AJC Oaks next week.

In reality, it was a fairly simple choice for Dittman because the Oaks is worth only $300,000 and Keep The Peace will not have to take on the two outstanding staying fillies in Australia at the moment in Faint Perfume and Valdemoro.

At her most recent outing, Keep The Peace won the NZ Oaks over 2400 metres at Trentham on March 20 taking her record to four wins and three seconds from only eight starts.

The filly is one of only two runners in the Derby to have won at 2400 metres, the other being another New Zealander in Monaco Consul, winner of the Victoria Derby last spring.

While taking on the colts and geldings in the Derby is a big challenge for any filly, completing the Victoria and AJC Derby double has proved equally difficult and has not been achieved since the Lloyd Williams-owned Mahogany in 1994.

The last filly to win the Derby was Research in 1989 but she completed a good decade for the fillies with Rose Of Kingston (1982) and Tristarc (1985) also successful.

Apart from confirming Dittman's ability as a judge of horse flesh, Keep The Peace would also provide trainer Shaun Ritchie and jockey Jason Waddell with the biggest win of their careers.

Ritchie is the son of Frank Ritchie, trainer of the mighty Bonecrusher whose win in the 1986 Cox Plate at Moonee Valley was one of the most memorable in the history of the famous race.

As a jockey , Dittman won the Derby in 1983 on Strawberry Road and Naturalism in 1992. Since retiring from riding, Dittman has spent much of the past 15 years in Singapore and he is now racing manager for one of biggest owners there.

He bought Keep The Peace for $110,000 after seeing her win a barrier trial in New Zealand 18 months ago with the intention of selling her but decided she might be up to winning good races in Australia and formed a partnership with his son and Bellingham.

The filly has already paid for herself with more than $244,000 in prizemoney and, after assessing her competition tomorrow, Dittman feels she is not out of place in what is hardly a vintage or classic field.

The main chances appear to be the Bart Cummings-trained Rock Classic and Zabrasive, from the John O'Shea stable, who have come through the traditional Rosehill Guineas lead-up.

They fought out the tightest of finishes with Zabrasive getting the verdict by a nose and it is hard to imagine any of those three-year-olds who finished behind them beating them home tomorrow although there has certainly been a big ‘'wrap'' on Queenslander Shoot Out throughout his campaign.

With the rain in Sydney over the past few days, which seems almost inevitable at this time of year, the track will almost certainly be affected to some extent tomorrow.

This would help the chances of Keep The Peace who has won on slow and heavy going in NZ and also Monaco Consul if he regains his best form.

Rock Classic has won two from two on dead tracks and has a placing in heavy going and Shoot Out has two wins and a second from three starts on slow going.

History suggests that the Golden Slipper form does not always stand up in the AJC Sires' Produce Stakes a week later but Hinchinbrook and More Strawberries appear to be crying out for the 1400 metres tomorrow.

Still a Maiden, More Strawberries broke 35 seconds in coming from 14th at the home turn to finish third to Crystal Lily and Decision Time in the Golden Slipper with Hinchinbrook just behind her.

After the Golden Slipper, Damien Oliver labelled the Gerald Ryan-trained Hinchinbrook as an ideal type for the Sires.

Bart Cummings has the ruling Sydney Cup favourite Precedence trying for his fourth win on the trot in the Chairman's Handicap (2600m), the traditional guide for the cup in a fortnight.

For those who want to have a flutter I like ROCK CLASSIC to beat KEEP THE PEACE and ZABRASIVE in the derby and MORE STRAWBERRIES just ahead of HINCHINBROOK in the Sires.

LATEST TAB MARKET ON THE AJC DERBY

1 MONACO CONSUL $15.20
2 ROCK CLASSIC $4.50
3 SHOOT OUT $5.40
4 EXTRA ZERO $25.40
5 ZABRASIVE $3.70
6 HANDSOME ZULU  $27.30
7 COUNT ENCOSTA $14.70
8 DESCARADO $6.40
9 SAINT ENCOSTA $101.10
10 SHERPA TENZING $26.70
11 LANDLOCKED $119.80
12 HOME ON A WING $123.00
13 SUYAMA $45.00
14 CEDARBERG $197.90
15 KEEP THE PEACE $23.10