But his lack of experience might not be enough to stop the talented pacer from winning the $12,000 feature.
The winner of four of his seven races is similar to his driver, Tim Williams, in many ways, making the most of the opportunities given to him early in his career.
Williams has had another season to remember in his second year with the All Stars Stables, winning 29 races in New Zealand from just 165 drives prior to last night's Addington meeting.
Among those wins were six with Piccadilly Princess including the Harness Jewels 3yr-old diamond (a Victoria Oaks win with the filly is not included in that tally) and the Auckland Cup with Have Faith In Me.
"To win an Auckland Cup is a pretty big thrill,'' Williams said.
"I've been blessed with very good opportunities. As a young person, that's all you can ask for is an opportunity and I've had my fair share this season.''
The Manipulator is on the front line for the 2600m pace, and Williams said the gelding's efforts behind the tapes at Ashburton two weeks ago meant he was confident the pacer will step away again.
"The way he stepped, he began a lot quicker than I thought he might. You would think this week, again, he should improve,'' Williams said.
"As long as he gets away nicely again, he's the sort of horse who puts himself in the race and doesn't generally - touch wood - run a bad race. He's the perfect wee horse to take to the races, really. He tries his heart out.''
The Manipulator again gets a chance to adopt front-running tactics with only two other horses drawn on the front line, although Williams said the horse was more versatile than it may appear.
"He's not one dimensional as such, but he is the sort of horse who does have a big motor and can rough it if he has to. But it's not the end of the world if he has to come from behind them.
"He's pretty quick, too, but he hasn't been driven that way a lot yet, but I'm sure when that time comes, it won't be a bad thing if we have to drive for a sit.''
The Manipulator's biggest threats start off a handicap.
Callenberg is off 20m, and Fifth Edition is another 10m behind on the 30m mark.
Flyin Heather is off the front, but will start fron the unruly mark.
"The big thing is as long as he takes that first step and he hits his hopples . . . he'll hold his ground without saying he'll be the first one on the fence or anything,'' Williams said.
"You've got to have a bit of respect for the likes of Fifth Edition, who you would think would have to improve off the Nelson runs, as he'd been off the scene for a while leading into that.''
