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By Ray Hickson

As well placed as Linebacker’s co-trainer Tom Charlton feels his Group 1 winner is in Saturday’s Group 3 $1 million Silver Eagle (1300m) he says there’s plenty of work to be done to win it.

Trainer Tom Charlton (Pic: Bradley Photos).

That’s largely thanks to the gelding drawing near the outside in what is a crucial lead up, due to a small setback that saw his Epsom plans erased, into the $10 million Golden Eagle (1500m) in two weeks.

Charlton, who co-trains with John O’Shea, said the big picture is very much in mind with Linebacker and the make up of the Silver Eagle is potentially challenging.

“It does look a really tricky gate to be fair, you have two of the main chances drawn one and two and they look potentially the likely leaders,’’ Charlton said.

“If it doesn’t happen for him because of the gate then hopefully in two weeks’ time for the main one we get a bit more luck.

“But if the race maps out to give him the chance then of course we’d hope he will be very competitive over a trip that will be at the shortest of his powers.”

Linebacker, $3.10 with TAB on Wednesday, missed the Bill Ritchie last month and therefore the stable’s plans to target the Epsom went by the wayside.

He appeared in THAT barrier trial at Randwick on October 7 and upstaged Ka Ying Rising by winning the 1000m gallop, something Charlton isn’t putting any real emphasis on other than showing Linebacker is back on track.

“We didn’t expect to win the trial and it wasn’t our intention but given he missed a little bit of time he was fresh and well and that reflected in the trial,’’ he said.

“He’s naturally a competitive horse, he was full of running up the straight and Zac (Lloyd) just peeled him off heels and the horse towed him to the line.

“We’ve had a really good week, we can’t fault him, he’s ticked over nicely leading into Saturday. We were really pleased with how he came through it.”

The first three home in the Silver Eagle are exempt from ballot into the Golden Eagle, run at Randwick on November 1, but Linebacker’s rating will see him safely in the field.

There’s some decisions to be made as to whether stablemate Snow In May runs alongside Linebacker in the Silver Eagle after coming up with the outside barrier.

It’s possible she could wait and look for a run in The Invitation, a $2 million race for fillies and mares next weekend, with her major target coming up next month.

“She’ll need a few things to go her way to enable her to be in the finish,’’ he said.

“We have a race picked out for her in three weeks, the Hot Danish, as a likely target we’ll look to work towards.”

It’s going to be a challenge for Getafix to turn his form around, after a first-up failure, in the Hong Kong Jockey Club World Pool Handicap (1400m) as he’ll jump from the outside alley.

The four-year-old finished last two weeks ago, when a solid $4.80 chance, and Charlton is happy enough to put him in the forgive file as he has been hot and cold previously.

“He was disappointing first-up, we opted to step to 1400m and drop back in grade and he’s benefitted from that before,’’ he said.

“It’s the last race of the day so (the barrier) might not be as negative as it looks. We will probably know our fate through the day.

Linebacker wins a Randwick trial on October 7

“Perhaps the ground was a bit firm by that stage of the day and his best performances have been with the jar out. It was a puzzling run but he has done that before and bounced back.”

Tom Charlton on Samarelle (race 1): “She’s a filly we like, she is going to continue to get better with age and racing. She was excellent on debut and just the race wasn’t quite run to suit when she was beaten at Kembla. She trialled well in blinkers last week, it’s an open race and she’s a good each-way chance.”

On Zouna (race 10): “He'll be fitter but he’ll gain a lot from that run experience wise as he was quite rusty coming off an extended break. It wasn’t the worst effort first-up, he steps to a suitable distance and from a better gate he might show an improved effort.”

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday’s TAB Everest meeting at Randwick