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By Ray Hickson

There’ll be nowhere to hide as Private Harry’s TAB Everest start goes on the line at Randwick on Saturday and trainer Nathan Doyle says he can revive his chances if he gets the start right.

Trainer Nathan Doyle (Pic: Steve Hart).

That’s where everything went wrong for the previously unbeaten sprinter when he was a beaten favourite in the Shorts two weeks ago but Doyle has regrouped, he has a new rider, and it’s basically all or nothing in the Group 2 $1 million Precise Air Premiere Stakes (1200m).

Private Harry is one of three current TAB Everest runners tackling the final lead up to the $20 million race and Doyle has drawn a line in the sand as to what he needs to achieve.

“It’s a competitive race, I suppose he needs to improve and he needs to get things right,’’ Doyle said.

“He definitely needs to run top three to warrant pushing on to an Everest but I feel he can do so.

“He just got it all wrong first-up. You can’t do anything wrong, you’re against the best sprinters in A grade.

“He’s a fast horse and he likes to be up on speed and when they are like that they need to get everything right out of the machines. If he gets that right I’m sure he can bounce back and be competitive.”

The four-year-old, $4.40 with TAB on Friday and $17 in the Everest, was locked into the TAB Everest on the back of his Group 1 win in The Galaxy when Yulong purchased a share in the horse and put him in their slot. So far they've kept the faith.

Expectations were high for his return in the Shorts but from the moment the gates opened he was up against it.

He went down on his knees at the start then copped a bump from Briasa before working to put himself in his natural position on the speed. By then the damage was done and he weakened to run fifth.

“You know as humans if you stumble and knuckle in a race at the top level you’re going to get beaten,’’ he said.

“If he didn’t have an unbeaten record going into that race there wouldn’t be the same scrutiny. It’s hard to maintain an unbeaten record, it was only his sixth race start and we’ve got to take that into account.”

So assuming Private Harry gets the start right, how does Doyle want to see the race pan out?

He’s expecting, as in the Shorts, Mazu to want to lead the race and feels new jockey Tim Clark, who had his first sit on Private Harry on Monday, will suit the horse’s style.

“If we begin and Mazu wants to lead like it did last start hopefully we can be closer and on his hammer,’’ he said.

“He’s the kind of horse that would ride a hot tempo and find two lengths and maintain but you’ve got to get everything right in the first half to do that.

“A similar thing happened in the Sunlight where a tearaway leader came across from the outside gate and we sat second.

“Tim has ridden a lot for the Waterhouse/Bott stable and knows how to rate horses on speed. It’s hard to get right sometimes, you can’t go too slow and you can’t go too fast.

“You’ve got to get him into a rhythm and (Tim) should suit him.”

Meanwhile, Doyle is quietly confident Churchill’s Choice can make an impression in the Melbourne Storm Mile (1600m) if the big field can generate a genuine tempo.

The mare, runner-up in the Queensland Guineas and sixth in the Queensland Oaks in the winter, has been nearer the tail of the field in her two runs back. Two weeks ago she was beaten 2.2 lengths by Fortune over the same track and distance.

Private Harry's first-up run in the Shorts

“I reckon she’s going better than her form suggests,’’ Doyle said.

“She got out the back and there was no tempo up front and nothing to take her into the race. She had to cart wide and she’s only been beaten two lengths.

“A lot of her race results are down to tempo and if there is plenty of tempo and she can get into a nice spot she can bounce back to her true form.”

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