A head-scratching barrier trial prompted a slight change of plan for dual Group-winning colt North England but he is set to chime back into the three-year-old features at Rosehill.
The Kindergarten Stakes winner turned in a lacklustre trial effort behind T J Smith Stakes winner Briasa at Canterbury on August 18 when he gave ground despite being ridden out in the straight.
He had been scheduled to resume in the San Domenico Stakes (1000m) but co-trainer Adrian Bott scrapped those plans, wanting to see a more positive showing before bringing him back to the races.
“He struggled a bit in that trial,” Bott said.
“It might have been the (heavy) track and the conditions that didn’t have him entirely comfortable at Canterbury.
“It was a bit below par and we needed to see a bit more before we pushed on to the path we’ve got him on.”
In lieu of his planned first-up assignment, North England was sent back to the trials for a third time and finished a much improved second to Everest contender Private Harry.
The was deemed a good enough performance to head towards the race that was to have been his second-up assignment, The Run To The Rose (1200m) at Rosehill on Saturday.
“He came back and trialled nicely the other day so we’ll most likely see him link back into the program we had for him and go to The Run To The Rose,” Bott said.
“I thought that was a good trial. He seemed right back on track. ”
North England was one of the early fancies for the Golden Slipper after he won the Golden Gift (1100m) in the spring but was put behind the eight-ball for the world’s richest two-year-old race when he missed a crucial lead-up run in the Silver Slipper due to poor bloodwork.
Bott and training partner Gai Waterhouse still managed to get him to the feature where he finished a respectable sixth to Marhoona before ending his juvenile campaign with a Group 3 victory.
The Run To The Rose is one of the key launchpads towards the Group 1 Golden Rose (1400m) on September 27 and has attracted 20 nominations including Golden Rose fancies Nepotism, Wodeton, Raging Force and Skyhook.
