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By Ray Hickson

There’s no guarantee exciting staying prospect Bear On The Loose will be given the chance to repeat stablemate Just Fine’s heroics from a year ago but co-trainer Adrian Bott predicts a bright future for the import.

Adrian Bott (Pic: Bradley Photos).

It’s not gone unnoticed that the gelding, who carries the same colours as last year’s Group 1 Metropolitan winner, landed at the top of TAB pre-noms betting at $8 for the spring staying feature on the back of his impressive Australian debut win.

Just Fine burst onto the scene a little later in the year than Bear On The Loose as he didn't make his debut until September but, speaking on SEN, Bott said the signs are good though he isn’t setting any targets just yet.

“That may all come around 12 months too soon for him but then again I would have said the exact same thing with Just Fine at this point in time,’’ he said.

“They can certainly show that progression but we’re not getting too far ahead of ourselves just yet.

“I think that 2000m-2400m will be his sweet spot, he had some good form in the mile to 2000m range in Europe. Once we can get him out to that range that’s where will start to see the real progression.

“We won’t ask too much of him in his first campaign, try and work through his grades and try to work up to that sort of trip.”

Bear On The Loose was heavily supported when scoring at Rosehill two weeks ago and was $2 favourite with TAB to repeat the dose in Saturday's Toyota Forklifts Handicap (1800m) at Randwick.

Bott, who co-trains with Gai Waterhouse, said if there is a negative it’s that staying at the same trip isn’t ideal but wouldn’t be using that as an excuse.

“I was really happy with him first-up. He’s obviously quite short in the market now,’’ he said.

“I would have liked to have started to stretch him out at this point of his preparation. We were a little limited with the options there.

“No doubt he’s a nice progressive horse and there’s more to come from him.”

Wanaruah kicked off his career in fine style with a win at Canterbury and Bott says he’s not gone backwards as he steps out in trip in the TAB Handicap (1400m).

The Snitzel colt led all the way to a 2-1/4 length win at his first outing and while drawn the outside in the opening race Bott said he has the early pace to offset it.

“He looks to have trained on nicely, I do think there’s plenty of upside with this colt,’’ he said.

“I think stretching out to 1400m is going to be a real positive for him, I think he’ll appreciate getting onto a bigger track as well away from Canterbury.

“He has a bit of a wide draw to contend with but he has good tactical speed to offset that and it looks a lovely race for him and a good natural progression.”

Bott is being forgiving of I’mintowin’s second-up defeat as he steps up in trip in the James Squire Handicap (1800m) after things didn’t go to plan early last time.

The four-year-old started a solid favourite at Rosehill two weeks ago and was unable to find his normal on pace position, which left him vulnerable, but Bott was impressed by how he rallied to run a close fourth.

“Last start he was a bit slow into stride and had to race a pair or two further back than we would have liked,’’ he said.

“He wasn’t able to build into the race when we needed so I thought he ran well. He was excellent first-up, third-up here I feel he’s ready to put his best foot forward stretching out in trip.

“Hopefully he will be able to settle more forward and potentially control the race with the tactical speed he’s shown over shorter trips.”

Bear On The Loose wins at Rosehill on June 29

Adrian Bott on Zouphoria (race 6): “The key to her chances will be the track and the level of improvement we get. She’s certainly not at her best in the heavy tracks so if we can see her back on an improved surface there’s a few lengths of improvement there.”

On Ha Ha Ha (race 7): “Remaining at the 1400m was probably the reason for (a flat run), she was excellent first-up with a big run over 1300m which we thought was short of her best. We were expecting that style of run from her second-up so we were forgiving of that. If she can get a better run in transit I think stepping out to the mile will help that.”

On The Little Pumper (race 7): “In his last couple of runs he’s really started to put it together. No doubt the blinkers really switched him on, he’s in good form and continued to hold that nicely. I think he’s a horse that will suit Rachel King.”

On Russian Roni (race 8): “I think that 1400m-1600m range is where he profiles best. The fact he performed well first-up over the 1200m I thought was a good effort, he stuck on well and was just outsprinted late.”

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