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By Ray Hickson

It’s been a little while in the wilderness for stakes winning sprinter Phearson but trainer Brad Widdup is adamant everything will fall into place one day and he’s hoping it’s at Scone on Saturday.

Trainer Brad Widdup (Pic: Bradley Photos).

The seven-year-old has won twice at Group 3 level, last year’s Liverpool City Cup in March his latest win, and Widdup said while his two runs this preparation have seen him finish out of the placings he hasn’t helped his own cause in either.

Because circumstances in last week’s Takeover Target Stakes at Gosford, where he ran eighth, meant Phearson didn’t have a hard run Widdup had no hesitation in backing him up in the Listed $200,000 Scone Equine Luskin Star Stakes (1300m).

“The other day we aimed to be behind the speed and it just didn’t happen,’’ Widdup said.

“He has been a little slow to jump but he got a squeeze as well and it put him out of contention.

“He didn’t go around a horse and just worked up the straight. That wasn’t by design.

“Hopefully he can put it together. I think he is looming towards a win.”

Phearson, $11 with TAB on Friday, found himself a long way back when he resumed in the Hall Mark Stakes and ran on into fourth behind Mazu.

Widdup said ideally he will break from the gates with them this time around and that will open up a lot more options for jockey Zac Wadick.

“The thing I like about him is he’s racing a lot more genuinely,’’ he said.

“We’ve put in a lot of work to get him to settle and now you could argue he’s settling too much.

“He was beaten the other day, but his first two runs I’ve been more than happy with so we just need a bit of luck.”

It was a tricky decision for Widdup about where to send Left Field for her resumption and settled on the GRO Events Handicap (1100m) at Scone over a Listed event in Brisbane.

The mare was placed in the Denise’s Joy at last year’s Scone carnival and Widdup said her trials suggest she is in good order and if she works her way up to stakes company again then so be it.

“I like them to earn their way there,’’ he said.

“It was fillies and mares, that’s probably more why I looked at that race in Brisbane.

“She’s one of those fillies I haven’t had a decent crack at, not through injury or anything like that but things don’t happen at the right time for her.”

Left Field is generally a back marker who can produce a big finish on her day and Widdup said it’d be great if she could settle in front of a few in the run to make her job easier.

He’s not trying to reinvent her, more see if she can be a little more versatile.

“We’ve been working to have her a bit closer, I’m not saying in the first three, we’re trying to get her where she is in front of at least a few,’’ he said.

“I’m not going to try and make her an on pace horse but it’d be lovely to have her a bit closer.

“I hope she can run well, it’s a good starting point for her and hopefully we chose the right race.”

Phearson's last start in the Takeover Target

The paddock likely beckons High Dandy if he isn’t somewhere in the finish of the Muswellbrook Ford Handicap (1700m) with Widdup suspecting he may not have reacted to being gelded as quickly as other.

It was a slight improvement third-up when beaten three lengths at Warwick Farm on May 7 but the trainer would like to see more.

“If he didn’t run well I would probably be recommending a break. He obviously hasn’t come up between getting gelded,’’ he said.

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday’s Scone meeting