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By Ray Hickson

South Australian trainer Aaron Bain hasn’t made the around 1300km trip to Rosehill because he’d like to see the countryside – he’s on a mission on Saturday with promising gelding Shady Thinker.

With three wins from four starts and after a strong first-up success, Bain said there’s no time like the present to give Shady Thinker a trip away and a test against different competition while he’s still on the lower side in the ratings.

And if his first shot is a hit in the Ranvet Handicap (1200m) he plans to send the four-year-old to a similar race at Kembla Grange’s Gong meeting in two weeks.

“He’s a progressive horse for us, he’s got the score on the board in Adelaide,’’ Bain said.

Trainer Aaron Bain

“We want to see if he’s competitive enough to take the next step and now is the time with such a nice benchmark race around.

“It’s lightly dipping his toes in rather than going in the deep end.

“If he’s able to win it’s a good result and it allows the horse to take a natural progression through to better races. If you don’t go you’ll never know.”

Bain, 32, has been training in partnership with Ned Taylor since the start of the 23/24 season and by the end of that season they’d taken up residence in what is now known as Angaston Park, formerly Lindsay Park.

The same property that has been home to many champions through the Hayes empire and more recently occupied by Tony and Calvin McEvoy until 2022.

Taylor spent almost seven years working for Ciaron Maher prior to joining Bain’s team when the dual code horseman moved into thoroughbred racing in 2021 and then joined forces with him as co-trainer.

“We’ve taken a step back in numbers to focus on quality and find those progressive horses to show that we want to travel as well,’’ Bain said.

“The place has been successful since the 1960s and it’s our opportunity to continue that legacy.”

Bain managed to secure Nash Rawiller to ride Shady Thinker, $3.10 with TAB on Thursday, after losing his original booking when Adam Hyeronimus was suspended on Big Dance day.

He’s a believer that young horses can thrive on travel. The horse arrives at Rosehill on Wednesday morning and will be given a look around the track on race eve.

It’s a race that the more Bain looks at it the more he likes how it will potentially shape up for him.

And he'll have a handy support crew with around 20 owners planning to be on course.

“He begins nicely and is able to put himself just behind the leaders and switches off very well,’’ he said.

“If we’re just a pair off the speed he just loves to chase. He has a really good closing furlong, 200m-300m in him, which is his biggest asset.

“The set up for him is going to be good from the gate and it’s the right sort of race we picked out after his first-up run in Adelaide.

“And there’s probably not a more in-form jockey in Sydney, it’s a pleasure to have Nash on and we get all the benefits there.”

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