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By Ray Hickson

Trainer Mark Newnham is quietly confident he has the talented Quackerjack poised to return to his best form this spring so he's expecting a positive return at Randwick on Saturday.

Trainer Mark Newnham.

The six-year-old was a star of the spring and summer in 2019 but last season only yielded one placing from five starts and he missed the second half due to requiring the removal of knee chips.

If he can show he’s back on track in the Robrick Lodge Filante Handicap (1400m) then Newnham is keen to set him for the $1m The Gong, which he was narrowly beaten in two years ago, and chase a second win in the Group 2 Villiers Stakes.

“He’s got a really good glow to his coat, he’s nice and healthy and moving fantastic,’’ Newnham said.

“I think he is pretty much back on track. We’ll know a couple of runs in because there’s nowhere to hide at his rating.

“He’s a big solid animal and he has a racing style where you have to get him pretty fit before you send him to the races.

“He’s going to get out and do his absolute best up on pace so there’s no use going there without having him fairly forward.”

Quackerjack, $9 with TAB on Thursday, has trialled three times to have that fitness level high for a first-up run at 1400m and Newnham said the latest of those, a win over 1200m, reflected his racing style.

He suspects it was a very tough first-up run in the Group 1 Winx Stakes last year that sent him into the wildnerness for a while and doesn’t want a repeat of that on Saturday.

“He can rest outside the leader pretty well and run well from there,’’ he said.

“He won the Liverpool City Cup (last year) doing that. He doesn’t necessarily have to lead but he needs to maintain his momentum on speed.”

If the Randwick track remains dry then Newnham is expecting stayer Skymax to bounce off an encouraging second-up run in the Listed $140,000 ClubsNSW City Tattersalls Club Cup (2400m).

He was specked in the betting and finished three lengths behind Entente in the Colin Stephen off a six week gap between runs.

“I thought he ran well in a race that was run at a really strong tempo,’’ Newnham said.

“The key to him is getting good ground. He has a light weight and a jockey who understands him.”

Stablemates Marway and Lord Olympus contest the Southern Cross Group Handicap (1200m) and Newnham says expect Marway to improve on his second-up run behind Lord Olympus from Warwick Farm back on October 4.

On that occasion Marway started favourite but faded after leading to be beaten two lengths.

“I haven’t been happy with his appearance yet but he’s nearly there,’’ he said.

“He took a while to come good in his coat last preparation and the further into his prep the better he got. The only difference was at the start of last prep he was only a benchmark 68 horse or something like that so he could get away with not being at his best.

Quackerjack wins a trial at Randwick on October 8

“He’s nearly back to where he should be and I’d say this run would top him off.”

The gelding was $11 with TAB on Thursday while Lord Olympus was $16 and Newnham said the latter is being aimed at the $150,000 Choisir Handicap (1100m) on November 2.

“He’s quite a heavily built type of horse and he was always going to improve with a run so he did a good job the other day,’’ he said.

“The 1200m is his limit but it will keep him up to the mark for his next run at Randwick.”

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