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By Ray Hickson

Jockey Kerrin McEvoy can only see upside to high priced colt Congregation and says the wider spaces of Rosehill will give the youngster his chance on Saturday to build on his promising debut win.

Jockey Kerrin McEvoy (Pic: Bradley Photos).

The $2.25 million brother to Golden Slipper winner Estijaab left it quite late but arrived on the line at Canterbury just over a week ago in a performance that told McEvoy there’s plenty for trainer Chris Waller to work with.

With such a high price tag comes a deal of expectation and the champion jockey said he got off to a handy start.

“I thought it was a good win, he got organised at the right end of the race,’’ McEvoy said.

“He struck me as a colt with a nice bit of class and that X-Factor about him so it was a good effort to win first-up when he was showing signs of being quite raw.

“I think it was more the tightness of Canterbury that caught him out so hopefully a bigger track will put him in good stead.

“If he can come on from that win then he should be hard to beat. Whether they cost two bob or two million you’re trying to achieve the same result.”

Congregation is the only metropolitan winner in the TAB Handicap (1300m), he was $4.60 with TAB on Thursday, so he has top weight of 58kg to contend with.

McEvoy is wary that none of the colt’s siblings have won past 1200m but Congregation based on the debut effort over 1250m he has the impression that at least 1400m will be right up his alley.

“I think he could be a miler, I suppose that remains to be seen,’’ he said.

“He probably doesn’t have an abundance of early speed, he’s your typical midfield type runner I suppose.

“I’d be surprised if he didn’t enjoy going a little bit further. He’s quite a relaxed character so he’s got that nice approach to the game and that might help him go past 1400m.”

Waller won the corresponding race last year with Osipenko who has trained on to be Group 1 placed and a winner at Group 2 and Group 3 level at three.

McEvoy partners with the Waller yard on emerging stayer Al Aabir in the Listed $160,000 Bowermans Winter Cup (2400m) and he’s hoping to have a bit more luck than apprentice Jasper Franklin did two weeks ago.

The lightly raced four-year-old found plenty of traffic in a 2400m Benchmark 78 and went down by a narrow margin when third to Outlandos after launching when the race was all over.

While the Winter Cup is a class rise, McEvoy said it doesn’t appear too big a step for a horse he’d regard as a new kid on the block.

“He just got into a tricky spot and it got quite congested. He was very unlucky not to win,’’ he said.

Congregation wins at Canterbury on May 24

“With 53kg on his back he deserves favouritism and he’ll be hard to beat at the same track, same trip, as last time.

“Desert Icon has been around the mark at Listed and Group level as has Spirit Ridge but he deserves a crack. He’s building a very nice record in his own right.”

Al Aabir has been dictated to by wider barriers in his past two starts but McEvoy expects to be able to make a bit of use of a favourable draw on Saturday.

“I don’t think he has to get way out of his ground so I’d be hoping to be a bit closer than he was last time given it’s a smaller field and there doesn’t look to be an abundance of on-speed pressure,’’ he said.

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