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By Ray Hickson

He might be a six-year-old but Diamond Diesel’s inexperience is trainer Adam Duggan’s main concern as he attempts to keep his unbeaten Australian record intact at Rosehill on Saturday.

Trainer Adam Duggan (Pic: Steve Hart)

The former Hong Kong galloper chases a hat-trick in the Midway Handicap (1300m) and while Duggan is confident the talent is there for him to measure up the fact remains he’s only had two starts since a 13 month break.

“I’ve got no doubt the ability is there. It’s just whether it is too soon,’’ he said.

“He’s a lightly raced horse on the way up, some of the others might have met their level. He keeps learning a bit more, he’d want to really have his act together to be beating a couple of these.”

That comment stems from the gelding’s second-up win at Newcastle on August 11. It was a narrow yet authoritative win but Duggan noted Diamond Diesel had one ear pointed forward and one back at the business end.

It illustrates that between those two ears there’s still a bit of work to be done.

Duggan said he could have held Diamond Diesel, $5.50 favourite with TAB on Thursday, back to provincial company but the opportunity to strike with 54kg, after Dylan Gibbons’ claim, is hard to pass up.

“Although he only just won I thought there was a good bit of merit in the win at Newcastle,’’ he said.

“There’s a bit of depth in this Midway no doubt. I was hoping it would be a bit softer but I just love the distance for him.

“He appears a horse that may get a mile in time but I like that gentle step up in distance from 1100m to 1200m to 1300m. I either went back to the provincials with top weight or run in a Midway and he gets in on the limit.

“I thought why not do it that way, you can always come back in class if we needed to.”

Diamond Diesel was sent to Hong Kong on the back of a barrier trial win at Rosehill in January 2020.

He eventually debuted there almost 18 months later and finished midfield but he suffered a stress fracture to his shoulder and was returned to Australia.

Duggan said when he first saw the horse in a spelling paddock at GT Park, not far from his Kulnura base, he immediately caught his eye.

“I wasn’t too concerned (about the injury), with the right amount of time they usually get over that okay,’’ he said.

“I don’t think it was too long before I started to get an idea that he could gallop. He was a little bit aggressive in his work and we worked really hard on trying to get him to settle.

“I pretty well expected it to happen at Gosford (at his first start). Even though he was by Mossman the wet track was my only concern, he’d never seen a wet track and he’d worked on a couple here and didn’t seem to appreciate it that much.

“Obviously he won really well and improved nicely into his second one.”

Diamond Disel wins at Newcastle on August 11

Chris O’Brien rides trackwork on Diamond Diesel and Duggan said the former jockey is adamant a firmer surface will be in the horse’s favour.

Barrier one isn’t Duggan’s favourite place to draw but in this horse’s case, playing catch up when it comes to experience levels, it may work in his favour and is quietly confident he’ll perform in his biggest test to date.

“I’m hoping he has a bit more of a ceiling than a few of these horses,’’ he said.

“I’m not getting ahead of myself and I’m hoping for a really good performance from him.”

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