Danny Williams made the trip from Goulburn to Sydney last weekend with high expectations and met with mixed results.
Deceiver was ordered back to the trials after beating just one runner home at Warwick Farm but War Charm upheld stable pride with a well-supported victory.
Williams is bringing Court Connection and Iking to Rosehill with the prospect of a wet track throwing another variable into the hopes of several runners at the meeting.
Court Connection raced below expectations at the track last Saturday week but Williams is looking to put that behind him when the six-year-old lines up in the Glen Curtis Handicap (2000m) which has lost one of its attractions, Frozen Rope.
Stewards questioned the tactics used on Court Connection last time out but Williams said the tempo of the race was against him.
“He is a horse who has got to be put to sleep early and given the chance to finish the race off,” Williams said.
“He flies the gates and he needs to be controlled otherwise he gets up and running and then just grinds away.
“He has won on a slow track but it was a winter track. I don’t think he’s a genuine wet tracker but I’m sure he’ll go OK.”
Tommy Berry will ride Court Connection who was at $11 on Friday with Kukri and Secessio sharing favouritism on TAB’s fixed odds at $4.60.
Iking runs in the Norm Snowden Handicap (1500m) with Peter Robl aboard while Eminent Domain, a heavy track winner at Canberra, is fourth emergency for the Spotless Sprint (1100m).
Williams is rebuilding his stable after a lean couple of years and Deceiver is the horse he believes can lift his profile.
The four-year-old, who won a straight race at Flemington before his Warwick Farm failure, will run in a barrier trial at Canberra next Friday.
Deceiver’s Flemington victory was his first metropolitan success and he could be headed south again.
“I’ve got high expectations for him and he is entered for the Newmarket and the Doncaster,” Williams said.
“But he has been disappointing every time he’s been to Sydney.
“I will more than likely enter him for both Rosehill and Flemington on the 16th and see where we go from there.”
