The promising Huetor will face his moment of truth when he takes on star galloper Zaaki in the Hollindale Stakes and it may not be their only match-up.
Co-trainer Peter Snowden is hoping the French import can prove his weight-for-age credentials to earn a shot at the Group 1 Doomben Cup (2000m), which is also a target race for Zaaki two weeks later.
But first Huetor has to show he is up to the task and Saturday’s 1800m Gold Coast feature will be a critical litmus test.
“I just want to see where he measures up and how far away from those horses he is,” Peter Snowden said.
“If he is close to them, knowing there is improvement to come, I will keep going the way I’m thinking.
“If he gets beaten a long way, we can go to Plan B.
“Huetor zipped through the grades at his first Australian preparation with a hat-trick of stylish wins over the summer.
He showed he had returned at least as well when he sustained a long run to finish third to Our Playboy over 1400m at Randwick and will relish a distance rise at the Gold Coast.
“He had no right to do that. He is not a seven-furlong (1400m) horse in a million years so the fact he has gone that well conveys what we’ve been thinking for a while, that he’s above average,” Snowden said.
Regular rider Kerrin Mcevoy will partner Huetor in Saturday’s Group 2 feature, which has attracted a handy field including spider bite survivor Ayrton and the Chris Waller-trained Group 1 winners Kolding and Hungry Heart, who are heading north in search of a firmer track.
The Snowdens will also have two-year-old Sheeza Belter in the Group 3 Ken Russell Memorial Classic (1200m) and plan to ride her more patiently after she over-raced when well beaten in the Percy Sykes Stakes last start.
“The heavy track and going too hard, too early in the Percy Sykes brought her undone but she is a much better horse than what we saw there,” Snowden said.
