Leading Golden Rose fancies will clash in Sydney on Saturday but trainer Troy Corstens is hoping Coram emerges as a contender for the $1 million race when he runs in Melbourne.

Corstens was relieved to see Coram resume with a six-length win at Geelong last month in the three-year-old’s first start as a gelding.

Corstens, who has formed a training partnership with his father Leon, now wants to see Coram confirm big-race ambitions in Saturday’s Joyann Erskine & Philip Carroll Handicap (1400m) at Flemington.

“Obviously Saturday is going to be a really big step and is going to tell us exactly where we are going to be heading,” Corstens said.

“The short-term plan will be the Golden Rose if we can get there.

“He will have to run really well if not win on Saturday to keep pushing forward towards that, but that’s where we are trying to head.”

Coram is the $3.20 favourite for Saturday’s race and is at $51 in Golden Rose betting.

He ran home strongly on debut for fifth in the Inglis Banner at Moonee Valley last year before two unplaced runs in stakes company earned him an appoinment with the vet’s knife.

Corstens believes it has been the making of Coram as a racehorse and said his first-up win at Geelong, when he rounded his rivals up from back in the field, was what he needed to see.

“He has always shown promise. He didn’t beat much and we’re not getting ahead of ourselves, but he won how we wanted to see him win,” Corstens said.