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By Ray Hickson

We haven’t seen a lot of talented three-year-old Prague this autumn but trainer Annabel Neasham will give him a chance to wrap up the carnival in a Group 1 if he’s successful at Randwick on Saturday.

Trainer Annabel Neasham (Pic: Grant Guy)

The colt reaches his first major goal, the Group 2 $1m Arrowfield Sprint (1200m), having not raced since March 6, when a close fourth in the Group 1 Newmarket Handicap, and his only other run was a month earlier as he ran third in the Eskimo Prince.

Neasham reunites Prague with Tom Marquand, who won two races from three rides on the colt last year, and is planning to back up and take on older horses in the Group 1 All Aged Stakes (1400m) on Saturday week.

“I wanted to keep him fresh and freshen him up for this,’’ Neasham said.

“He drew the car park in the Darby Munro so I didn’t see any need to run, the main aim for him is the Arrowfield then to back up if he runs well into the All Aged.

“He’s a very high quality colt and I’m expecting a big showing on Saturday.”

Marquand last rode Prague into sixth place in the 2020 Golden Slipper following wins in the Canonbury and Pago Pago and he was on board in his recent barrier trial, and in a gallop at Randwick on Tuesday morning.

It seems a case of out of sight, out of mind, with Prague who was $12 with TAB on Thursday despite his 1.5 length fourth behind Zoutori (who ran fourth in the TJ Smith last weekend) last start.

The Warwick Farm trainer said Prague’s downfall is what happens at the start of his races so he’ll need to be on his best behaviour but otherwise can’t fault him.

“He’s one of the best looking horses in the stable, that’s for sure, and it’s great to get Tom Marquand back on board because he won two from three on the horse and rode him in the Slipper,’’ she said.

“He’s been happy with his trial and his gallop the only thing I hope he does is jumps a bit better than he has been.”

New stablemate Wisdom Of Water ($21) is also coming off a run against older horses as he made his debut for Neasham with a gallant second in the Group 3 Star Kingdom Stakes (1200m) two weeks ago.

It was the first sign of form from the former boom colt who started his career in Queensland since he was a Group 3 winner at the Gold Coast in May last year.

Wisdom Of Water runs second at Rosehill on April 3

He worked with Prague on Tuesday morning and Neasham said he could be the dark horse of the Arrowfield.

“It was a very tough run I thought, he was entitled to get tired late and he probably was but he dug in deep,’’ she said.

“He’ll have taken natural improvement from that. He way he worked (on Tuesday) was nice and relaxed and I think he’s in a good frame of mind, I wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up on top.

“If he produces what he produced the other day he’ll be hard to beat back his own age group.”

All the fields, form and replays for Day 2 of The Star Championships at Royal Randwick on Saturday