These days trainer David Payne concentrates on quality rather than quantity and his Rosehill stable comprises two and three-year-olds with the notable exception of dual Group One winner Ace High.
Payne will saddle up debutant Peralta in the two-year-old race at Randwick on Saturday hoping he can show enough to be in the mix in some bigger races in the autumn.
The meeting has been switched from Warwick Farm to Randwick’s Kensington track because of the forecast for extreme heat in Sydney’s west, Peralta will have his first start over 1150 rather than 1200 metres.
“I was hoping to start him off over 1200 and he might find this field a bit sharp,” Payne said.
“He is a very nice horse and we will bring him along and see what he can do at two.
“I have a lovely crop of two-year-olds but they are probably not Slipper types. They are all going to be better at three so it’s a bonus if they can perform at two.”
Silent Explorer was among Payne’s juvenile winners last season and he resumes over 1300m.
The trainer had hoped he and stablemate Toulouse, who are both by 2010 French Derby winner Lope De Vega, could also be Derby horses but he has changed tack.
“I think they are more 1600 to 2000 metre horses,” he said.
Lope De Vega’s most successful progeny from his four Australian crops are Group One-winning sprinters Santa Ana Lane and Vega Magic.
“Toulouse will trial later in the month. Silent Explorer will go through the grades. We don’t want to get above ourselves and we’ll see where he takes us,” Payne said.
Silent Explorer will be having his first start since being unplaced over 1600m at Caulfield in October.
He will be ridden by Brenton Avdulla on Saturday with Jason Collett aboard Peralta.
Tarka, winner of the Stan Fox Stakes and fourth in the Spring Champion, is behind his stablemates after undergoing surgery for colic while four-year-old Ace High is in light work after running unplaced in the Melbourne Cup.
“Ace High will be aimed at the Australian Cup,” Payne said.
“We will then look at the Tancred but probably keep him to 2000 to 2400 metres.”
