Gerald Ryan is set to resume a stakes-performed colt at Randwick on Saturday which has been off the scene for almost a year.
Tango Rain is set to begin his spring campaign in the TAB.com.au Benchmark 80 Handicap (1000m) after a recent trial win at Rosehill.
The son of Manhattan Rain has not raced since finishing sixth in the Heritage Stakes last September.
However, the colt was trialled twice during January in preparation for an autumn carnival assault.
"In the form guide it probably looks like he has been out for a very long time but he was up, fit and flying in February," Ryan said.
"He had two trials and was ready to race and he got a virus, so we stopped him, turned him out and started again with him."
The four-year-old finished runner-up in the Group III San Domenico Stakes behind subsequent Group I performer Star Turn and Ryan is hopeful that he can return in the same vein of form.
"He's got good talent," Ryan said.
"I always thought he was a stakes horse so we just have to see if he can come back and find his right form.
"He's going really well. He's a gross horse, he's not overly big but he's a very solid horse. He carries a bit of weight but he's going good.
"He'll run well on Saturday in that class and will improve off it."
Ryan aims to take it step by step with the colt but will be setting his sights on black-type races in the near future.
"We'll just try and get his rating up so he can get into some of those off the top sprint races," he said.
Ryan will also resume Australian Derby runner-up Harper's Choice in the Group II Missile Stakes (1200m).
"The 1200m is a nice race to start him off in, a bit of pressure up front and not a huge field," Ryan said.
"We'll give him this run and then a 1400m in a couple of weeks time and then we'll decide whether we'll just keep him to the mile races or get him out to 2000m and a bit further later on."
Although Group I placed over 2400m Ryan is not convinced the son of Street Cry is a true stayer and has begun his campaign early to get a guide on what races to target in the spring.
"He might be a miler on the back of a fast pace," Ryan said.
"At home you work him steady, he can go home and run his last 400m as quick as anything but you haven't seen it raceday because in those mile and a quarter races we were riding him up on the pace because there was no speed in the race.
"I'd just like to see him ridden quiet and see if he can have that turn of foot in a race that he shows at trackwork."
Tango Rain is the $3 favourite with Luxbet for Saturday's TAB.com.au Benchmark 80 Handicap (1000m) while Harper's Choice is $34 with Bet365 in the Group II Missile Stakes.
