For all the hype there is just one glaring omission from the Rubick resume - a group 1 win. Which means you don't have to be a rocket scientist to guess which box all Rubick's owners, including the eager Coolmore, want ticked this autumn.
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"It's not only the owners, but me too," joked trainer Gerald Ryan.
They won't get it when the former top two-year-old resumes as favourite in the group 2 Challenge Stakes at Randwick on Saturday, but they will sure get an indication of how close they might go later in the campaign.
Opting for the allcomers weight-for-age test rather than settling for the set weights plus penalties test of the Fireball Quality against his own age, Ryan has left no-one guessing where connections have set the bar this autumn.
Bookmakers are treading warily with Rubick, an early Challenge Stakes favourite, despite being corralled to the wrong side of the track in a Coolmore Stud Stakes failure.
"He's in that class and he has to take them on," Ryan said. "They don't program a huge amount of races for sprinting three-year-olds in the autumn so you've got to take them on.
"The Arrowfield race on now is good as a three-year-old set weights race during The Championships, but you've only got the Fireball leading into it.
"[But] he looks heaps stronger through the shoulders and neck. The boys that have come and had a look at him have all said the same thing. He looks a lot stronger than last time around."
Rubick will press on to the first of his group 1 goals in The Galaxy after he resumes in the Challenge Stakes on Saturday, with his star two-year-old fillies also slated for a progression to a major later this campaign.
Magic Millions contender Perignon and the talented Fireworks tackle the Reisling Stakes in the Randwick opener and Ryan has left the door open for the latter to pay the $150,000 late entry fee for the Golden Slipper.
"[Fireworks] is up to winning this race," Ryan said. "She's a little hard to get a line on because she's not a great trackworker.
"We probably found by accident how to ride her in getting back and running on. In saying that she's not big enough or strong enough to go quick all the way and finish off.
"She's only a little, light thing and not being a big field I hope they generate speed up front for her and she's a chance. [Owner-breeder] John [Camilleri] is keen to pay a late entry into Slipper and if she's not really, really competitive against these on Saturday we won't worry about paying up for the Slipper."
Perignon charged home for fifth in the Magic Millions, but is likely to be aimed towards the Sires Produce-Champagne Stakes double later in the autumn.
"I jumped her out the other day and she did leave the gates heaps better than she did any of her other runs previous," Ryan said. "She's tough enough and she had a month on the water walker and in the paddock of a daytime to build up her strength and she's built up good strength and she's maintained it.
"Both their chances are going to hinge on how quick they go up front."
