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By Ray Hickson

It will be interesting to see where Saltcoats, a curious new addition to the Chris Waller stable, is pointed when he makes his Australian debut after quite a nice trial at Randwick on Tuesday.

The Kiwi three-year-old had three starts under Samantha Logan in NZ, winning a Listed race over 1400m at the latest of them at the end of May.

In his 850m heat on the Kensington track, the gelding settled well in second and held that spot to the line to finish 1-1/4 lengths behind Godolphin gelding Kallos who was an all the way winner.

It was a trial with plenty of talent as Group 1 winner In Secret closed in late to run third ahead of Group 2 winner Arts, Godolphin’s stakeswinner Barber and Democracy Manifest.

Whether Saltcoats is a wet tracker remains to be seen, the trial was run on a soft 7 and his Listed win came on a heavy 10, but this was an encouraging first local appearance.

My Oberon finished with purpose to win the opening trial over 1250m in his first outing since his unplaced run in Hong Kong at the end of April.

The Doncaster Mile runner-up needs to reproduce that sort of effort on race day but his was a positive start to the campaign as he ran down White Marlin full of running.

Zapateo notched two Group 1 placings in Adelaide in the late autumn and she had a picnic in front to win her 850m heat but it was still a faster time than the other Group & Listed trial over that trip.

Kallos wins a trial at Randwick on August 15

James McDonald always had a good hold on her and no doubt the margin could have been greater had he let her go. She’s a Group winner on a good track but does seem more dynamic with the sting out so it’s no surprise she trialled so well.

Stablemate Corniche, last seen accounting for Shinzo in the Skyline Stakes, was a month between trials as he ran on into second and stamped himself as a dark horse in the three-year-old ranks. Unbeaten colt Libertad was slapped up a bit to stay with him in third place.

Loving how Happy Honey is tracking in her trials for Brad Widdup and she’s a first-up winner in waiting particularly if she’s given the opportunity in a maiden.

The filly trialled strongly for the second time since her debut fifth in the Woodlands Stakes at the Scone carnival, she found the outside fence and edged closer with every stride to be beaten under a length.

Captain Amelia had to be stoked up to get going after having to wait to get clear in her second trial back but once she made it to the outside she rushed home for a nice second in a 1050m heat.

She showed John O'Shea some talent with a debut win before taking on stronger company in the autumn.

Rock Empire is an unraced three-year-old from the Waterhouse/Bott stable and he clearly appreciated a longer trip for his second trial, he led and when asked to get going dropped his rivals on the turn and broke well clear. No doubt he’ll be placed well on debut.

Short trials can be a bit misleading but on face value the heat won by Royal Tribute could produce a few winners going forward.

The Snitzel colt bumped into Ozzmosis on debut at Randwick back in June and in his 743m trial he did some work before holding off fast-finishers, both unraced fillies, Gold Dust and Miss Bayles.

All the results and replays from Tuesday's Randwick trials