As the spring carnival draws nearer, Nathan Doyle is aiming to capitalize on the current form of his progressive gelding Funshow by testing him in Saturday metropolitan races.

The son of Cosmic Force, who has impressed in his past two starts with combined winning margins of 6-1/2 lengths, is entered for a Benchmark 72 race over 1500m for three and four-year-olds at Rosehill this Saturday.

The race conditions are particularly appealing, as Saturday marks the commencement of the new racing season and Funshow officially becomes a four-year-old.

“He seems to be trending the right way,” Doyle said. “There’s nowhere to hide now, he’s probably at that level. He’s got to step up and go to that 72 grade, but he’s in good order and 1500 metres I think he’ll run out strongly.”

After successive victories at Newcastle over 1300m and Hawkesbury over 1400m, Doyle has no concerns about stretching Funshow to the 1500m distance, especially with the $160,000 prizemoney available.

“He’s always shown us that he’d be a miler in time and he’s slowly getting there,” Doyle added. “It’s definitely the right time to try them. Obviously, it’s carnival time very soon, so you probably try them while those 72s are on a Saturday for the good prize money.”

Doyle might also have two other runners at Rosehill on Saturday, including last-start winner Silvanito, who is set to contest another Benchmark 78 over 1400m.

“He finally drew a gate third up and we were able to ride him a little closer,” Doyle noted about the former Godolphin gelding. “It’s the difference from being able to drag him back from bad gates and always hitting the line strongly but never getting the cash. He’s rock hard, race fit so the four weeks between runs won’t worry him.”

Formal could also represent the stable, holding nominations for a Benchmark 78 sprint over 1100m at Rosehill and a race at Doomben, with his final race program still under consideration.

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