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By Ray Hickson

Trainer Michael Freedman has been “encouraged” by the way promising colt Pallaton has gone about his business ahead of his return at Rosehill on Saturday but says spring plans mean nothing until he re-establishes himself.

Trainer Michael Freedman

Pallaton made an exciting debut just before Christmas that had him high in Golden Slipper betting but things fell apart when he returned to target that race and Freedman had to pull up stumps.

On the back of two impressive trials he says there’s every reason to think Pallaton can put himself right in the spring picture in the Listed $200,000 Drinkwise Rosebud (1100m).

“I’m keeping a very open mind because you want to see how they return and make plans from there,’’ Freedman said.

“It’s not the be all and end all by any stretch but I’d like to see him come back to what I know he’s capable of and run a good race.

“The San Domenico (in two weeks) would be one option to have a look at but it depends how things pan out.”

There are Group 1 targets in the calendar Freedman has mentioned as options but with colts in the spring everything is on the table until they aren't.

Freedman said it’s not ideal to be kicking off on a heavy track but his two barrier trial wins, one on a soft 5 and the other on a heavy 9, have been what he’s wanted to see.

“I think encouraging is the right word about his trials,’’ he said.

“He’s travelled keenly and when Tommy (Berry) asked him to quicken up a bit he’s been able to do that so they are good signs heading into a spring prep.

“He had to stop during the autumn, he picked up a throat infection and that didn’t help matters.

“With two-year-olds at that time of year you can’t be stop starting and playing catch up too much so I was happy to tip him out and give him a nice break.”

How Berry navigates Pallaton, $2.40 with TAB on Friday, in the small field in the Rosebud will be left entirely up to the jockey.

Freedman said barrier one can be tricky in small fields but at the same time can be used to advantage.

“Tommy knows the horse pretty well,’’ he said.

“You won’t want to be giving away too much of a start but I think he just needs to jump cleanly then work out where he lands from there.

“If something wanted to cross and lead he can tuck in behind but I think I’d really like to leave it to Tommy to sum it up.”

There’ll be plenty of interest in how fellow three-year-old Ninja performs in the Asahi Super Dry Handicap (1300m) on the back of a runaway maiden win at the start of the month.

The trainer isn’t getting carried away with the distance between first and second in that race but said it was promising and now he’ll need to do it again, and do everything right, up in grade.

“The margin in a four horse field on a heavy track you’ve got to keep in context,’’ he said.

“I don’t think it’s that significant, I know 11 lengths is a big margin but I’m keen to take it with a grain of salt.

“He is a horse that is still learning and still does a few things wrong, particularly at the start, so he will need to not make too many errors. I guess we’ll learn a lot more about him.”

Pallaton wins a Randwick trial on August 7

Michael Freedman on Polyglot (race 8): “The barrier is a bit of a nasty one because that 1100m start can be tricky from wide gates. I want to have a good chat to James (McDonald) and get his thoughts on how the race might pan out. He knows the horse well, he’s won on him previously. He’s a lovely horse and came in good order, he’s a no fuss sort of fellow and settled into Randwick and the new routine.”

On Bunker Hut (race 10): “He’s been ready to go, like many horses, in the past two or three starts but I’ve had to pull him out mainly due to the wet tracks. I don’t think he’s at his best on really wet ground, I think he’s okay to a level.”

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