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By Ray Hickson

Ceolwulf probably isn’t aware of what’s at stake in his likely short summer campaign that begins at Randwick on Saturday.

Trainer Joe Pride (Pic: Bradley Photos)

Trainer Joe Pride rates the lightly raced three-year-old as a horse of the future and his performance in the TAB Handicap (1300m) will go a long way to telling Pride whether Ceolwulf will remain a colt into that future.

A Group 3 placing, finishing in front of subsequent Group 1 winner Tom Kitten, in the Ming Dynasty back in September stamped the horse as one with potential.

“He was just starting to feel his shins a little bit and was hitting some very firm tracks,’’ Pride said.

“I wanted to leave him a colt and didn’t want to give him two or three months off, so I gave him a month off and told the guys let’s bring him back in December.

“We can work out whether we should leave him a colt, he’s a bit colty but manageable.

“He’s ready to go to the races. He’s a really nice horse, you can see with his race record he’s very promising.”

The son of Tavistock was only having his third start, and was fresh off a maiden win, when he ran second to Encap at Rosehill.

Pride said he's not usually in a position to be running such an inexperienced horse against much more seasoned gallopers but is still expecting him to be very competitive.

It’s normal practice for Pride to only trial once when a horse is coming off the type of break Ceolwulf is and he pointed out it was a very easy trial as he felt the track was on the firm side.

“I don’t run too many three-year-olds in this grade but I’ve got no choice because he can’t be placed in anything easier with his benchmark,’’ he said.

“He’s still on the way up and given his pedigree he’s only going to get better as he gets older.

“I think 1300m is appropriate for him, nice to see him draw well, a little bit of rain around I’m happy with because he just wants that sting out. We should see him run really well.”

One of the hard heads opposing Ceolwulf, $5 with TAB on Thursday, is stablemate Testator Silens who made his belated debut for Pride with a fast finishing second over 1200m at Warwick Farm on December 6.

The well performed former country gelding started his career with Pride before moving to Luke Clarke at Braidwood and based on his return the trainer said he can only see him holding that form.

“I thought he ran a good race. He’s a pretty talented horse who has mixed his form a fair bit,’’ he said.

“He’s drawn well, which is good, he shouldn’t have to do too much work from that barrier. Again, I’d be a bit disappointed if he wasn’t thereabouts.”

The planets may have aligned for Sinawann to produce his best performance since joining the Pride team with a few factors in his favour in the Schweppes Handicap (1400m).

The seven-year-old ran a slashing fourth in the Razor Sharp (1200m) at his third run back but with barrier one he may not need to concede the sort of start he did in that sprint where he drew wide and conceded a big start.

“He had a bit of a flashing light on the other day, hopefully he can find the necessary improvement,’’ he said.

Ceolwulf runs second in the Ming Dynasty in September

“It looks the right race for him, he should go close. He’s been drawing wide and we’ve had to go back on him.

“If he can begin well he can race a bit handier as well and that could help him.”

Meanwhile, Pride said both Principessa and Euros are capable of showing up in the Agency Real Estate Handicap (1200m).

The former is a consistent mare first-up since winning back-to-back races within three days in August while the latter was a late scratching from Warwick Farm on Wednesday and Pride said she will appreciate the surface at Randwick a lot more.

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