Trainer Joe Pride will decide later this week whether boom sprinter Rain Affair will join stablemate Neeson in Saturday’s Group Three Missile Stakes at Randwick.
Rain Affair took his record to six wins from seven starts with a resounding five length victory at Warwick Farm on July 23 and has now won his past four starts by an aggregate of more than 16 lengths.
Pride says the gelding has come through the race in great order but he wants to have a close look at the Missile entries before committing to a start.
“I’m happy with the horse, I doubt that would be a factor in the decision,” Pride said.
“I’ll have a look at who he’s got to beat because it is a decent jump up in grade.
“It’s weight-for-age so he won’t exactly be well weighted.
“But I do think there is a real void of weight-for-age horses around at the moment so I’m not expecting too many superstars and we’ve got a lot of the other horses on the hop a bit fitness-wise.”
Pride’s other option is to wait a week for the Listed Starlight Stakes (1100m) at Rosehill run under handicap conditions.
While Pride is still weighing up his options for Rain Affair stablemate Neeson is almost certain to resume in the Missile.
He hasn’t raced since last year’s Epsom Handicap but he has had three barrier trials to ready him for a return, the most recent at Warwick Farm on Friday.
“He’s super and I’m just happy to have him back,” Pride said.
Trainer David Payne will have two runners in the Missile with both Centennial Park and Winter King scheduled to kick off their campaigns in the first Group race of the new Sydney season.
Both are proven fresh performers with Centennial Park having won three from five first-up while Winter King has yet to miss a place in five first-up runs.
“Centennial Park has come back well. He’s a very honest horse, he’s not quite up to Group One level so we’ll pick through some other races with him,” Payne said.
“It does look a nice race for Winter King on Saturday.”
Payne will also be represented in the other stakes race on the program, the Listed Rosebud (1200m), by last start winners Al’s Magic Miss and Queenian.
Al’s Magic Miss showed she had returned in good order with a tenacious victory in the Rosebud Fillies Preview at Warwick Farm on July 23.
Queenian was scratched from Saturday’s Inglis Bonus Hcp (1300m) at Rosehill in preference for the Rosebud after scoring an overdue win at Rosehill earlier this month.
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