The Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young stable had hopes of tackling the Magic Millions 2YO Classic with Derivative.
But after a pear-shaped debut, those plans were iced, with the stable deciding to lower their initial targets.
After a spell and some solid jump-outs, Derivative is ready to make it back to the racetrack and will line up in the Sportsbet Jockey Watch Handicap (1000m) at Sandown on Saturday.
Derivative won a Cranbourne jump-out and then a trial at Warwick Farm last December on his way north for the Magic Millions meeting earlier in the year.
Busuttin and Young had hoped the colt by Capitalist would score a debut win in a 1200m contest at Eagle Farm on December 28 and earn his place in the Magic Millions contest the following month.
But Derivative blew the start ending those hopes.
“He’s a horse I’ve got a lot of time for,” Busuttin said.
“He showed a lot of promise in the lead up to the Magic Millions, so we took him up there to run in one of the qualifying races, but he missed the start and got it all wrong.
“So, we brought him home, gave him a spell and he’s trialled up well to run on Saturday.”
Saturday’s race for two-year-olds is part of the Next Generation Sprinters Series with first and second qualifying for the final over 1200m at Flemington on July 5.
Busuttin said that race at Flemington appealed as there were not a lot of races on offer for the colt at this time of year.
“I would probably have preferred this race to be 1100 or 1200 metres, but I don’t think there’s too much coming up,” Busuttin said.
“This is part of the two-year-old series with a final at Flemington, and that’s the road I’m thinking of at the moment with him.
“I’m sure he’ll acquit himself well on Saturday and then we can have a think about that race at Flemington and may be after that freshen him up for some of the early spring races, but he is a horse that I do like.”
