Hurstville Zagreb has given his trainers a few restless nights, leading John O’Shea and Tom Charlton to return to a familiar formula in the hope of sparking a turnaround.
The gelding had been on a Derby path before a race day mishap during the autumn curtailed that campaign.
While he showed promise with a strong second-up mile win at Warwick Farm in October, his form has dipped across three subsequent runs over longer trips.
Those performances have prompted a change of plan, with Hurstville Zagreb dropping back in distance for Saturday’s Schweppes Handicap (1600m) at Randwick.
“He just hasn’t been himself at his last couple of runs,” Charlton said.
“He’s had us scratching our heads a little bit. We thought we’d go easy on him for a few weeks and come back to a trip he’s been effective over.
“Whether he isn’t a stayer like we thought he might be. He’s got us thinking.
“To us, he seems like he’s going as well as he was in everything he shows us at home, so maybe just going back to what has worked will help.”
The gelding has had three weeks between runs since fading late over 2000m at Rosehill on December 7.
He will jump from barrier seven and reunite with Zac Lloyd, who rode him to victory at Warwick Farm.