One last chance to run against his own age group has resulted in Arbeitsam coming back sharply in trip on Saturday to contest the Sydney Spring Carnival On Sale 3YO Plate (1400m) at Rosehill.
The son of Snitzel finished second over 1800m last start at Rosehill and was also entered to contest the Schweppes Benchmark 85 Handicap (2000m).
The conventional progression would be to go up in distance to 2000m but Waterhouse and Bott have decided on the unorthodox approach.
"It's probably a little bit odd having two completely different races nommed for," Bott said.
"I thought the entries in the 1400m came up a bit light on and he was actually a late nomination.
"Firstly, we wanted to take advantage of running against his own age group but no doubt the horse will get up to 2000m in time but we felt the 1400m opened up more options for us going forward for the remainder of his campaign.
"There looked to be a bit more pressure in that 2000m race.
"Stepping up to the 2000m in a high pressure race he could have been a bit vulnerable again, whereas over the 1400m with a smaller field hopefully it can race to our advantage."
Bott was buoyed by Arbeitsam's trackwork during the week that the drop back in trip wouldn't be an issue.
"He is a versatile horse," Bott said.
"From the work we saw from him on Tuesday morning he has certainly still got plenty of speed in his legs so we had no hesitation dropping him back in trip.
"We didn't think that would be of concern. It wasn't a necessity to be stepping up in trip."
Waterhouse and Bott have no set plans for the rising four-year-old but will be using Saturday's race as a guide.
"We certainly think there is plenty of upside to the horse and we haven't seen the best of him yet," he said.
"We'll just use Saturday to learn a little bit more and get a gauge on exactly where we should be setting our sights this campaign.
"He's done quite a bit already, we are mindful of that but he's certainly got more to offer."
Arbeitsam is currently the $3.80 second favourite with Sportsbet, narrowly behind Jason Coyle's Insensata, which will be aiming for a hat-trick of wins, at $3.50.
