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By Ray Hickson

A small dip in the deep end first-up confirmed to co-trainer Sam Freedman that Beskar is a horse of the future and he’s hoping to underline his potential at Randwick on Saturday.

Trainer Sam Freedman (Pic: Grant Guy)

The colt, a $600,000 purchase by Snitzel, was beaten half a length by North England in the Group 3 Kindergarten Stakes (1100m) in what Freedman said was an encouraging performance.

He’ll look to learn more about the youngster, and whether he continues on to the Brisbane carnival, when he carries 59.5kg in the ATC Bookmakers Recognition Day Handicap (1100m).

“It’s very much a look and see,’’ Freedman said.

“What his best trip is we’re not entirely certain yet. We’ll feel our way with him this prep and ultimately the spring will be his main goal.”

James McDonald rode Beskar in his barrier trial prior to the Kindergarten, where Ben Melham was the pilot, but he’s back on board this Saturday.

Freedman, who co-trains with his father Anthony, said Beskar, $2.10 with TAB on Thursday, will have taken improvement out of that first-up effort three weeks ago and despite the weight is confident that McDonald will have plenty of horse to work with.

“It was a really strong race first-up against some seasoned two-year-olds,’’ he said.

“It was a decent test for him at his second start and he might have just felt the pinch a bit the last 50m or so. He’s showed himself to be a pretty nice horse and this looks a nice race for him.

“He’s pretty tractable, you can put him in the race or take a sit on him. He’s pretty seasoned in that respect so he should be a fairly straightforward ride for James.”

The Freedman stable has Green Fly and Punch Lane in the Precise Air Handicap (1500m) and it’s the former whose first-up win captured plenty of attention.

The gelding carried 59kg and looked to be bobbing before he exploded to run Cool Jakey down over 1400m at Rosehill – Freedman said as impressive as that was it’s something he’s done previously when circumstances permitted.

He said the almost four weeks between runs suits and wouldn’t mind a few drops of rain leading up to the race.

“He’s been very effective on the fresh side so we were keen to space his runs and he’s a horse that’s ground dependent, he performs best on rain affected tracks,” he said.

“He’s been capable of a big finish like that and he’s done it on occasion when he’s been in unwinnable positions.

“His racing pattern lends itself to losing more than you win but when he gets things go his way he can be very effective.”

Punch Lane is on the quick turnaround having run fourth behind Sandpaper in the final race at Randwick last Saturday and Freedman said when he strikes the right ground he’s ready to fire.

Beskar runs third at Randwick on April 5

“He’s been effective on the back up previously so it was always the plan to run last week and back up,’’ he said.

“It’s really important that he gets heavy ground. He’s improving into his preparation and he looks like he’s ready to run some peaks over his next couple of races.”

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