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By Brad Gray

D’argento broke his maiden in eye-catching fashion at the provincials and it looked the win of a two-year-old destined for much better things.

Punters certainly haven’t missed D’argento in early betting, backing him confidently from a $3.60 opening price on Wednesday afternoon with TAB Fixed Odds to his current price of $2.20.

The So You Think colt was hampered in the early stages of his debut before having to bide his time in the straight to peel to the outside where he knuckled down to nab the heavily-backed Smartedge by the barest of margins.

“He was a good winner and the race rates well. It might have only been at Newcastle but two-year-olds when they find the right races can end up with some very strong form lines behind them. That Newcastle race will be a race to follow,” Chris Waller said in his weekly preview show Stable Talk.

The big striding grey jumps from 1200m to 1500m but Waller, who saw Chatelard salute over 1900m on Wednesday at Canterbury at just his second outing after winning over 1400m on debut, is unfazed by the jump in trip.

“Not with Hugh Bowman aboard. I think he’ll get the horse to switch off perfectly. From a genetics point of view, I’d say it’s going to help him being by So You Think,” said Waller.

“He has had that first up run plus a couple of trials prior to that so he should be seasoned enough.”

Meanwhile, Waller has opted to take on the older horses in the NSW Racehorse Owners Association Trophy (1500m) with late three-year-old filly Awoke.

To start her career, the daughter of Rip Van Winkle beat Invincible Gem on debut before getting the better of stablemate Foxplay in a tight finish at Rosehill. Awoke “went missing” thereafter according to Waller but he was buoyed by her winning return at Canterbury first up.

“(It was) good see her back with a bit of confidence. She hasn’t quite gone on to do what Foxplay has done and she clearly went missing but she has come back well and I’d expect her to run well again.”

Check out the fields, form and replays for Rosehill Gardens on Saturday