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By Ray Hickson

Trainer Bjorn Baker has been in no hurry to throw exciting mare Shades Of Rose into stakes company but says that will likely be her future if she completes a hat-trick at Rosehill on Saturday.

Trainer Bjorn Baker

What Baker wants to see first, however, is a strong performance at the end of 1200m in the Fujitsu General Handicap.

While Shades Of Rose is already a winner at the distance in her first preparation that was in a Benchmark 64 so Baker said he needs to that box ticked in tougher company to open up options later in the spring and into the autumn.

“A lot depends on Saturday, it’s one step at a time,’’ Baker said.

“At the end of the day we were just hoping she’d come in and keep improving and measuring up to Saturday which she’s done so from that point of view we’re happy with her.

“Going up to 1200m is another little question mark but she has been dominant, she doesn’t have to lead so she is flexible from that point of view.

“Her racing manners are getting better and I’d love her to tick that box, if she does that we’ll be very happy.

“If she goes well she basically puts herself up into stakes grade and there’s some pretty exciting races for her.”

The four-year-old currently has an 85 rating and was $2 favourite with TAB on Thursday.

Of course, Shades Of Rose made headlines for the wrong reasons when she lost her unbeaten record first-up this campaign, almost throwing jockey Tim Clark off, as she over-reacted to the saddle slipping and wanted to buck – that was back on July 2.

After a luckless second-up defeat she’s been nothing but dominant in two wins over the Rosehill 1100m, putting the dramas well behind her.

“You never panic. Obviously that wasn’t ideal and she’s really settled down through the prep,’’ Baker said.

“It was uncharacteristic of her but she’s definitely come a long way since then. It was devastating on the day but she’s turned it around and she couldn’t have done much better in her next starts.

“I think physically now she looks as good as ever, she has a great coat on her, and her work on Tuesday was very good again.

“It’s a tried and tested method to go through the grades and get the rating points up. From there hopefully we’ve got some good decisions to make.”

Front-running Canasta will be set his usual task as he aims for a breakthrough in the Drinkwise Handicap (1500m) after an encouraging second-up performance.

The seven-year-old recorded his tenth placing since his last win back in January last year when run down by Kalino two weeks ago and Baker is hoping he can hold his form.

Shades Of Rose wins at Rosehill on August 13

“He’s never looked better, his last run was very good and I think he has improved from there," he said.

“There are no easy races at this time of year but he’s in fantastic order. He’s always consistent. A little depends on how the track plays but we will be leading at all costs.”

Meanwhile, the speedy Malkovich is set to resume in Saturday week’s Group 3 $500,000 Concorde Stakes (1000m) while stablemate Overpass will trial again before pressing for a TAB Everest slot in what will be a very strong edition of the Group 2 $1 million The Shorts (1100m) on September 17.

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