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By Ray Hickson

Trainer Joe Pride says he isn’t going to find out which race he should target with exciting galloper Ceolwulf by being negative at Randwick on Saturday.

So he’s signalled, from a wide draw, jockey James McDonald will be asked to put the four-year-old into the contest in the Group 3 $250,000 James Squire Kingston Town Stakes (2000m) to give him the best chance to win.

Trainer Joe Pride (Pic: Bradley Photos).

Pride has nominated Ceolwulf for both the Group 1 TAB Epsom over a mile and the Group 1 Metropolitan over 2400m on October 5 so he’s truly reached the fork in the road.

“It’s unfortunate with the draw but I’d rather go forward in this race and have him in the first half than back in the second half,’’ Pride said.

“As long as he jumps well he’ll roll forward into that first half and hopefully James can get a decent sort of run.

“He just seems to be able to sustain runs. He took off early the other day and that’s not easy to do, and that’s what gives me a bit of confidence that I can press forward with him and use him up a bit to get into a spot.”

Punter’s Intelligence sectionals highlight Pride’s point about Ceolwulf’s commanding second-up win over 1500m at Rosehill three weeks ago.

He clocked the fastest 200m splits from the 1000m to the 200m and ran the second fastest final 200m of 11.33 (just 0.02 outside the quickest) so naturally he also ran the fastest last 600m (33.37).

It was a win that even took Pride by surprise a little, not that he won but how he won, and it confirmed to him that Ceolwulf, $3.50 with TAB on Wednesday, is a horse of the future.

“It turned a few heads didn’t it,’’ he said.

“It was more than I thought he was ready to do at that point of the preparation, of his life really.

“You kind of dream with these horses and I always thought down the track he’s going to develop into one of the best horses around.

“It was nice to see him put that win on the board, stamp some authority on a race and really put one away.

“He’s a really interesting horse, there’s so many options for him after this. I’ve gone through so many different pathways in my mind as to where we could go but his performance on Saturday is going to dictate where he’s going.”

Since that win Pride sent the gelding, who was runner-up to the late Riff Rocket in the Rosehill Guineas and Australian Derby in the autumn, back to the trials and he again showed he’s in the right mood.

“It was a continuation of what he’d shown in that start, where he raced with some speed in his legs and a flowing gallop that continued to build,’’ he said.

“It’s an important run, I guess it doesn’t matter if he wins or not.

“He’s pretty much qualified for most of the races I need to get him into, it’s just a matter of putting another good performance in.”

A wide barrier hasn’t made Private Eye’s job of defending his title in the Group 2 $1m Yarraman Park Shorts (1100m) any easier but Pride said there’s every chance history could repeat.

The seven-year-old sat wide without cover in the race a year ago and wore down Overpass to score and secure a TAB Everest slot and as much as Pride would love a cushy draw he feels the race could still work in his favour.

“He’ll probably have to do something similar, we’ve seen with this horse there’s no dragging him back,’’ he said.

“It does look a fast race and hopefully they string out, while he might be three or four deep hopefully they are running along at a tempo that suits him.”

Private Eye, placed in the past two editions of the TAB Everest, resumed with a fourth in the Concorde Stakes (1000m) but ran a slick 32.08 for his final 600m.

“He emerged out of the pack and finished the race off well in what was a dash home,’’ Pride said.

Ceolwulf wins at Rosehill on August 31

Mazu begins his second campaign for Pride and while the 2022 Everest placegetter is a noted wet track performer the trainer has been rapt with how he’s coming along.

Despite a bit of reluctance to go to the gates prior to his latest trial he led all the way to beat Stefi Magnetica and Think About It on September 9.

“He’s trialled better than he did last preparation and I can’t help but think he’s going well,’’ he said.

“I don’t know if he’d be leading these but he won’t be too far off them.”

Coal Crusher also resumes in the Shorts as he heads toward defending his crown in The Hunter at Newcastle in November while Dragonstone completes the stable’s quartet.

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