Practice with winkers in an off-Broadway jumpout last Thursday has left jockey Dwayne Dunn confident in Royal Symphony bouncing back in Saturday's Group I Caulfield Guineas (1600m).
Royal Symphony did a few things wrong before losing his unbeaten record when fourth in the Group III Caufield Guineas Prelude on October 1, prompting Dunn and Royal Symphony's trainer Tony McEvoy to make a gear change for the Caulfield guineas.
Flemington usually hosts its weekly set of jumpouts on Fridays but Dunn and McEvoy gave the $4.40 Caulfield Guineas favourite a hit-out with a stablemate on a quiet Thursday morning.
"Officially trialling on the Friday was getting a bit too close to the race and he (McEvoy) wanted to be another day out," Dunn said.
"It was just a little private one (jumpout) and he went with another horse.
"Last Thursday, he had a jumpout and a tune-up to say, 'it's game on and winkers on' and run through the motions with him and he passed that test with flying colours."
Dunn said Royal Symphony was sharper out of the barriers in the jumpout, which is likely to ensure the son of Domesday races closer to the lead without too much effort in Saturday's $2 million assignment.
"He did more than what we wanted to be honest. He sizzled along but it was more that I wanted to get him to hit the ground and run instead of just flopping out the back.
"We don't want to be last or second last. We want to be in the race somewhere."
Dunn said a desire to race closer did not mean he would attempt to hurry Royal Symphony out of the gates, preferring to find "a happy medium" of having him closer to the lead but preserve his impressive turn of foot.
"You don't want to fall into the trap of putting him in that spot because you want to see that beautiful finish on him," Dunn said.
Royal Symphony will start from gate nine but the draw was not without incident when Dunn's wife Amanda drew a Caulfield Cup replica trophy that did not have a line underneath it to differentiate numbers six and nine.
Mrs Dunn thought she had drawn barrier six before chairman of stewards Terry Bailey ruled she had picked up the cup with barrier nine underneath.
