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By Ray Hickson

Trainer Tracey Bartley is eyeing at least a top three finish for Kiss Sum in Saturday’s $1m Silver Eagle (1300m) at Royal Randwick to sure up his spot in the Golden Eagle later this month.

With conditions certain to be testing at Randwick, Bartley said he’s pleased he left nothing to chance with the four-year-old’s fitness by giving him three barrier trials within the space of a month including one at Rosehill on Tuesday.

Kiss Sum hasn’t raced since taking out the Group 3 Gunsynd Classic (1600m) in June at Eagle Farm and Bartley has been carefully planning his run at $11 million worth of races.

“I really think I’ve got him where I had him when he won the Gunsynd,’’ Bartley said.

“He’s had three trials and with the Gunsynd he only had one trial leading into the first-up run (in the Fred Best) and needed sharpening up.

“I’m tipping he’s going to be the best I’ve ever had him first-up.”

Kiss Sum wins the Gunsynd at Eagle Farm

The first three in the Silver Eagle are exempt from ballot in the $10 million Golden Eagle (1500m) on October 29 and, aside from the guarantee of a place in the race, Bartley would like to see him be in the finish to know he’s on track.

The gelding has raced twice on heavy ground for two second placings during the Provincial-Midway Championships series in the autumn, including a narrow defeat to Kinloch in the Final, and given the Final was held at Randwick that box is ticked.

“Fingers crossed everything can go to plan,’’ Bartley said.

“The heavy track takes the dash out of the other ones, and he has a great turn of foot as well.

“He’s got a great racing attitude, that’s what I like about him. He’s a machine walking around but when he’s in a race he flops out and conserves energy and lets go.”

It’s been quite a rise for Kiss Sum, a $14 chance with TAB on Wednesday in the Silver Eagle but $15 in the Golden Eagle, since he started last spring with a Class 1 win at Wyong.

He won the inaugural Four Pillars on Golden Eagle Day and Bartley was never afraid to give him grounding against Group class horses along the way through the autumn campaign and he says it’s been the making of a horse that’s always shown promise.

“We sent him to Dubbo (for his third start) and Mathew Cahill, who rode Sniper’s Bullet for me, rode him and rang me that night and said ‘Tracey I haven’t ridden a good horse like that since the good horse’,’’ he said.

“I was disappointed in a couple of runs in Sydney but they were in quality races and he needed to have them.

“He’s a very good horse and he wasn’t a horse you could sell because he had bad legs. He’s only little but he just has this great will to win.

“We’re trying to keep our feet on the ground. We’ve got to be mindful of everything and tick all the boxes.”

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday's Randwick meeting