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By Ray Hickson

Ten starts at Randwick for no wins would normally be some cause for concern but trainer Jarrod Austin is quietly confident Looks Like Elvis can put one on the board on Saturday.

Trainer Jarrod Austin (Pic: Bradley Photos).

Like a lot of statistics, if you look a bit deeper they can be picked apart and it’s not like the eight-year-old hasn’t performed well at Randwick – he did run fifth, beaten 1.6 lengths by Probabeel, in the Group 1 Epsom Handicap in 2020.

Austin said the crucial factor in the gelding’s favour in the Listed $160,000 Drinkwise Carrington Stakes (1400m) is barrier four – and Brett Prebble retaining the ride after his last start second in Melbourne is another source of confidence.

“We’ve drawn a good barrier so he won’t have to be back last like he has at his last couple at Randwick,’’ he said.

“There’s a couple of go forward horses so the map looks pretty good.

“He’s shown what he can do at Randwick, he’s run an almighty race in an Epsom and some good races when we’ve had a bit of luck.

“If you go through a lot of his runs he’s drawn wide and we’ve had to get too far back and that makes the task too big for him.”

A case in point is his last run at Randwick, a closing third in the Civic Stakes back in June, where he drew the outside of 14 and settled near last before going under by just over a length.

While the Randwick stats look a little grim on paper, with just three placings from 10 starts, the same can’t be said for his 1400m figures where he’s been in the top three in 14 of his 20 attempts.

Austin was rapt with Looks Like Elvis’s last start second over the 1400m at Flemington on New Year’s Day where Prebble noted he gave 100 per cent and felt having a tougher run than the winner was the difference.

“It was a super run and Brett thought the same thing,’’ Austin said.

“He said he’s run up to his very best and the winner just had a cosier run than we did.

“He had to make a long run on him which is not ideal on Elvis, if he can repeat that run on Saturday he’ll be very close to winning.

“It’s a huge bonus for us to have him on again, Brett’s ridden him twice and both times the horse has performed very well.”

Looks Like Elvis, $6 with TAB on Thursday, has settled just better than midfield at his past two 1400m starts and Austin expects with good speed from the likes of Titanium Power and Vreneli that his charge will find a stalking spot.

If that’s the case he’s offering no excuses for defeat.

“We should be able to land in a really good spot without doing any work and get every chance to finish the race off,’’ he said.

“I feel as he’s got older we haven’t had to be so taxing on him and the 1400m seems to be perfect for him. He has a really good turn of foot if conditions are right.

“He looks good, with a little bit of luck we’ll see how we go. He always generally runs really well at Randwick and I think he will run well again.”

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