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By Brad Gray

Astoria couldn’t have been much more impressive on his midweek debut and will be looking to cement Godolphin’s big opinion of him in the Group Three Schweppervescence (1400m).

Early on, John O’Shea had him pegged as one of the stable’s brightest two-year-old prospects but he left his Golden Slipper run too late, only debuting the week prior. It will James Doyle’s first ride back from a fractured wrist.

Astoria's dominant debut at Warwick Farm

“Astoria is a very progressive Medaglia d’Oro colt who hasn’t had an ideal preparation,” said O’Shea.

“He’s only had the one run at 1100m and he’s stepping up to 1400m, but he’s a quality colt and he’s effective in the ground.

“He’ll be very good at 1400m to a mile later-on.”

Marsupial, to be ridden by Brenton Avdulla, also represents the stable in the $150,000 race which opens the card at Rosehill.

“He didn’t have the race run to suit him in the Black Opal at Canberra but the step up to 1400m will suit and he did a strong piece of work here on Tuesday morning.”

Meanwhile, Impending is working his way back to form after an encouraging fourth in the Canterbury Stakes behind Le Romain and Chautauqua. He lines up in the Group Three Star Kingdom Stakes (1200m).

“It’s a bit of a drop back in grade from the Canterbury Stakes where he ran particularly well,” said O’Shea.

“He’s got more weight than we anticipated but third-up last preparation was his most effective performance and he worked really well this morning.”

Check out the fields for Rosehill on Saturday