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By Ray Hickson

For quite some time promising three-year-old Alabama State was his trainer Jack Pilkington’s ‘best friend’ as the first and only horse in his stable.

Trainer Jack Pilkington (Pic: Bradley Photos).

A few more have joined the 31-year-old’s growing team but the colt is the flag bearer and will be out to continue his rise in the Midway Handicap (1200m) at Rosehill on Saturday on the back of a dominant first-up win on his home track.

The Hawkesbury trainer takes a bit of pride in how Alabama State, with two wins from six starts, has so far lived up to the potential he saw when he picked him up for $80,000 at the sales.

“I am super proud, he was the only one I had for a good while,’’ he said.

“I have others there now but they’re young and not racing, he’s kind of been my best friend for the past year and a half. I spend a lot of time with him.

“It wasn’t the usual route for someone starting out to get yearlings instead of tried horses. I just picked up a tried horse recently called Pretty Tavi, she's won three races and if we can rejuvenate her she’s suited well for the Midways.

“I bought three yearlings in the sales season just gone - a Tassort, a Zousain and a Peltzer - and was sent a Prized Icon from Kooringal Stud.”

Pilkington revealed one of Alabama State’s most enthusiastic owners, and family friend, Caroline Gibbons passed away during the week and jockey Tyler Schiller will be wearing a black armband so it will be an emotional victory if the colt can win again.

He said while Caroline only had a small share in the horse she followed his progress closely and it gave her a distraction from her battle with illness.

Despite drawing an outside barrier in the Midway he’s quietly confident there’s significant improvement in the horse following his dominant first-up success.

It was a Midway Class 1 at Hawkesbury on August 22, he started $2.10 and won by 1-1/2 lengths, and Pilkington said he was nowhere near tuned up for the race after a small setback cost him a shot at the final metropolitan two-year-old race of last season.

“People say you can only beat what’s in front of you but you can also smash what’s in front of you,” he said.

“He was eased down the last 50m so he didn’t just beat them and I thought he had lengths of improvement going into the race.

“In the gallops he’s done with me I’ve always thought he’s going to turn into a stakes horse or at least a decent Saturday horse. I wasn’t surprised to see him win regardless of the amount of improvement I thought he had.

“It wasn’t the smoothest preop going into his first run back, he was still on the heavier side, and to see what he did was really pleasing.”

That improvement Pilkington said Alabama State, $3.50 with TAB on Thursday, had up his sleeve has been evident though he warned the colt might not be ‘pick of the yard’ material just yet due to a ‘sun bleached, coppery’ coat from spending his days in a paddock.

How he goes about winning the Midway is something Pilkington has put a lot of thought into since the field was released and he said he’ll be treating it like he’s the best horse in the race and there was nothing to be gained from waiting for another day.

“I was disappointed when I saw the barrier initially but when I did my speed map I felt much better,’’ he said.

Alabama State wins at Hawkesbury on August 22

“With the pace angles in the race and the way he puts himself in a race, if they go as quick as I’m anticipating he’d be three back one off which would be a good result. If he’s three wide with cover you can be full of confidence with him.

“If he flies home and doesn’t win that’s fine, the path doesn’t change too much.

“Everything else is in his favour. He’s run well at the track, the ground is right, the jockey’s great, the right weight, so if the only negative is the barrier he should still be running.”

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