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By Brad Gray At Rosehill Gardens

The opener at Rosehill Gardens was hailed as a race in two between crack colts Siege Of Quebec and Calculated and that’s the way it played out with the youngsters clearing out to duke out the finish.

Siege Of Quebec rallied for Tommy Berry in the final 100m after Hugh Bowman idled up on Calculated to be outside of the eventual winner but Siege Of Quebec showed his “fighting qualities” to remain undefeated.

“He looked under pressure at the top of the straight but that’s just the colt. He has certainly got a lot of fighting qualities about him and just does what he has to. He is such a naturally talented horse and there is a lot of raw ability there at the moment,” co-trainer Adrian Bott said.

“He’s still working out what it is all about. When to quicken and when to let down but when he is challenged he knows exactly what to do and its important at the moment that he knows where the line is.”

“Once he gets a little bit more seasoned, and we saw his inexperience there today when he was challenged he came off the bit early, but when the pressure came on he really knuckled down the task. Once he puts it all together and learns what is it all about he’ll be a serious horse.”

The $1.2 million Inglis purchase will now have a short break before being targeted at Sydney’s spring riches, similar to what Gai Waterhouse did with Squamosa and Siege Of Quebec’s full brother Bull Point who won this very same two-year-old race in 2013 on Winter Stakes Day before training on to run third in the Golden Rose behind Zoustar and Dissident.

“The immediate plans will be to head towards the Golden Rose so we’ve got a plan mapped out for him going through the Ming Dynasty (August 26). We’ll freshen him up, keep him ticking over and head him towards the feature races,” Bott said.

“He showed plenty of promise early on and we took him down to Melbourne for an early spring campaign and he even had a jump out down there but we thought he’d benefit from more time so we put him out and we’re reaping the benefits now.”

Siege Of Quebec parading in the yard @rosehillgardens @CoolmoreAus @GaiWaterhouse1 pic.twitter.com/wvMZElqzK0

— Racing NSW (@racing_nsw) July 15, 2017

Berry echoed the thoughts of Bott upon dismounting suggesting that they still haven’t got to the bottom of the Coolmore-owned colt.

“We had a nice time in front and he felt like he was going half pace the whole way round. I really had to keep his mind on the job but Hughie kept me honest and I knew when I pulled the stick through to the right that he’d find another half a length and he did that. He’s a very smart colt,” Berry said.

“At this stage he is a very hard horse to get a guide on because he only does what he has to. He pulled up then like he hadn’t gone around.

“I haven’t had a heap to do with him at home so I’m very thankful to Adrian, Gai and the Coolmore boys to give me the ride. I’ve had a lot of luck with them in the past on some very good horses including Vancouver so it’d be nice if this bloke can do something similar.”

With a four length margin back to the third horse Condor, Hugh Bowman was still full of praise for Calculated despite his defeat.

“It was a bit of a sprint home and I think he’d be more suited to a high pressure race but I was happier with today’s performance than his when last time. He settled really well,” Bowman said.

Declare your allegiance punters!

RT for Calculated and Like for Siege Of Quebec. pic.twitter.com/Z8mH2j9ILv

— Racing NSW (@racing_nsw) July 15, 2017

All the fields, form and replays at Rosehill on Saturday