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By Ray Hickson

Jockey Tim Clark says there’s no other way to assess Mayfair’s first-up effort as below par but he’s banking on the colt putting himself back in big race contention at Rosehill on Saturday.

The three-year-old gets that chance in the Group 2 $400,000 Kia Ora Hobartville Stakes (1400m) where he returns to the scene of his two best performances from the spring.

They were his close seconds to Lady Shenandoah in the Ming Dynasty and gutsy third behind Broadsiding in the Group 1 Golden Rose.

Jockey Tim Clark (Pic: Steve Hart)

But Clark said he wasn’t the same horse when he resumed with a battling seventh in the Eskimo Prince.

“He’s got the form around all the right horses, he’s just got to produce it on race day,’’ Clark said.

“He was disappointing, he didn’t have the best of runs. He had a wide run and I just think he’s looking to get out over a bit of ground.

“I think the 1400m is going to help him and he will be better again when he gets out to 1600m as well.”

Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott have added a tongue tie to Mayfair looking for something to spark improvement and make him competitive once again with the likes of Broadsiding.

Mayfair was $10 with TAB on Friday and $26 in next month’s Randwick Guineas.

“He continues to work well and do everything right but we want to see him put up a better performance,’’ Clark said.

“He needs to get himself back in the game and be running well against these horses.

“These are the horses he’s going to keep running into going forward. Hopefully from a better draw he gets a better run and that will help with the run under his belt.”

Adrian Bott echoed Clark’s view of Mayfair’s first-up effort and said what disappointed him the most was how quickly he raised the white flag despite not having the easiest of runs.

“His work has been good since, we went over him and tried to have a look at every aspect and see if there were any issues that might have prevented him performing to expectations,’’ bott said on Sky Sports Radio.

“He didn’t have the best run there in transit but he was still expected to do more and find more than he did.

“No doubt stepping out slightly in trip will help him.”

Soul Choice needs one more scratching to gain a start in the Group 3 Parramatta Cup (1900m) as she searches for her first win since September 2023.

The five-year-old has had a form resurgence in the past month or so with a close second at Randwick followed by a fourth behind Our Anchorage at Rosehill three weeks ago.

“She’s in good shape, we’re sweating on scratchings to get a run,’’ Bott said.

“She’s been around the mark and trained on well since her last start. If she takes her place she will be competitive for us.”

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