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By Ray Hickson

Trainer Danny Williams is confident there won’t be a repeat of the meltdown his promising grey Kreon experienced at his Randwick debut last month when he returns for the TAB Highway (1000m) on Saturday.

Trainer Danny Williams

It’s an important race for Kreon, not just because he has been picked up for next month’s The Kosciuszko but because he's only had three starts he needs all the experience he can get to be seasoned for the $2 million race.

Williams said there were a few potential reasons as to why he failed as favourite behind his stablemate Atmospheric Rock but he felt a lot better after he bounced back on his home track last week.

“We most probably went there a bit too cocky, I thought I’d done enough with him and he was tractable enough to cope with it but he didn’t handle the situation on the day,’’ Williams said.

“To see him get rolled first-up was disappointing and a bit of a shock for me.

“He was very raw, he’d never seen the whip before, he was out wide and a lot went wrong and on top of that he pulled up very sick.”

It took a few hours for Kreon to settle after that last Highway run but he showed he took no ill effects with that runaway Goulburn win and Williams said lessons were learned about the horse out of both runs.

Though it was only a five horse field at Goulburn, the four-year-old did everything Williams wanted to see and importantly he bounced through in a manner that gave him confidence to back up.

“The way to ride him is to have him in his comfort zone, his first run and his third run were like that,’’ he said.

“I didn’t want a repeat of what happened first-up, I wanted the owners to get their confidence back and the horse as well. It was an educational run where he could perhaps take a sit on something but he just had too much brilliance for them.

“I said to Nick (Heywood) to make sure he begins and have him in his comfort zone, the horse let down and showed a good turn of foot and came back under Nick with 100m to go.

“He’s come through it and improved since then, he’s taken a lot of benefit and it’s switched him on a bit more. He ate really well that night and on Monday I was pleased with him when I rode him and ever since.”

Williams said he would expect Kreon, $2.70 with TAB on Friday and $26 in The Kosciuszko, to be the stalker in the Highway and not necessarily the leader though he’s shown in his two wins he’s adept at that style.

He plans to give the entire another run, preferably at 1200m, before The Kosciuszko.

“Whether it’s all come too quick for him we’ll see, he needs this run and another one before the Kosciuszko,’’ he said.

“I want to see how he goes, the plan would be to look for a 1200m race for him.

“I believe he will be a 1600m horse and he’s learning how to race. What he’s showing at home in his sharper pieces of work is he hits a flat spot and he runs through the line.”

The Goulburn trainer elected to run Atmospheric Rock with 53kg in the Agency Real Estate Handicap (1200m) instead of the Highway with 9kg more and said if the track retains some moisture by the last race he’ll get his chance to produce his dash.

On the subject of Bandi’s Boy, a Group 3 winner in the autumn, in the Group 2 $1m Yarraman Park Shorts (1100m), Williams said he has the platform to improve on his second-up run in the Concorde where he drew wide and was only beaten four lengths.

Kreon wins at Goulburn on September 13

Whether that’s good enough to have him in the finish remains to be seen but having drawn barrier three it will leave him with no excuses.

“We were very pleased with the run, he came down the worst section of the track and he’s not a 1000m horse,’’ he said.

“The ground was a little too firm for him but overall I thought he hit the line nicely.

“He’s not as well in as some of the others but he’s come on from that run.”

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