The magic of blinkers can turn around performances - just look at Trapeze Artist in the Golden Rose - and the ATC will hope the head gear will save it from embarrassment by Brave Smash in next month's Everest.
The ATC went with the former Japanese sprinter last week for its $600,000 slot in the $10 million sweepstakes at Randwick, but he looked far from a group 1 sprinter at Caulfield on Saturday.
Brave Smash ran into trouble on the home turn but would have been expected to still beat the moderately performed Bons Away in the Testa Rossa Stakes.
The gamble to go with the unproven Japanese horse, which has only three wins, will only be decided on Everest day, but it will look more bizarre if Clearly Innocent, which was also on the ATC shortlist, can win the Premiere Stakes.
Master trainer Darren Weir said Brave Smash would be much better in a set of blinkers, but he would still have to improve by many lengths to match the likes of Chautauqua, Vega Magic and Redzel at weight-for-age in the Everest.
The intrigue around the $10 million race continues to build. Just under three weeks out from the first Everest, 10 of the 12 slots are effectively filled with Lindsay Park sprinters Redkirk Warrior and Vega Magic to be named in the The Star and Max Whitby slots on Wednesday.
It leaves Coolmore Stud and Damion Flower with the final picks from a deep group of sprinters to run on the weekend. Russian Revolution is still a chance to take a slot should he win Friday's Moir Stakes, where Terravista will also attempt to impress, while Newcastle sprinter In Her Time and Clearly Innocent stay under notice in the Premiere Stakes.
Ryan fine-tunes colts
Gerald Ryan has two of the best three-year-old colts in the country in Trapeze Artist and Menari, but they have needed different preparations to get to Saturday's Golden Rose and for the new spring three-year-old program to deliver them at their peaks on Saturday.
Trapeze Artist is more of a miler than a sprinter, so Ryan used the Up And Coming Stakes and the Stan Fox Stakes over 1500m to best prepare before his Rose victory, while Menari, which ran third, followed the more traditional path through the Rosebud and Run To The Rose.
High flyers: Gerald Ryan and owner Bert Vieira celebrate after Trapeze Artist wins by over four lengths. Photo: AAP
"They have done a great job with the new program because a horse like Trapeze Artist might not have been able to get to the Golden Rose last year," Ryan said. "I would not have been able to get him fitter enough in sprints, he needed that 1500m run and needed the blinkers.
"If you look at the first three horses home in the race, they came from three different form lines in Sydney and when you have options like that, it is better for trainers."
Ryan decided against running Trapeze Artist in next week's Epsom and he will have another run, probably on Everest day, before chasing a second group 1 in the Coolmore Stud Stakes at Flemington, where he will meet Menari again.
"They were the first two colts home in the Golden Slipper, the first two colts home in the Golden Rose and they could do it again in the Coolmore," Ryan said. "I can't wait to get them down the straight at Flemington because I think they are both going to love it."
No need for pacifiers
There was an interesting piece of head gear on Egg Tart when she worked between races on Saturday, but don't expect to see her in pacifiers come Saturday's Epsom Handicap.
"I work her in the pacifiers to block out any distractions. They just keep her focused but she won't race in them next week," trainer Chris Waller said. "She goes pretty well without them."
Neilson prognosis positive
Adelaide jockey Matthew Neilson is expected to be walking within a couple of days despite fracturing four vertebrae in a race fall from Charossa at Morphettville on Saturday.
Neilson also fractured ribs and punctured a lung in the fall but doctors confirmed on Sunday there was no damage to his spinal cord and they were not anticipating he would require surgery.
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