Exciting colt Hill Spy will make his black type racing debut when he contests the Group 3 Vain Stakes (1100m) at Caulfield on Saturday.

Hill Spy will be having just his second career start in the Group 3 Vain Stakes at Caulfield on Saturday. Photo by: Jenny Barnes

The O’Reilly colt has had just one career start, storming home to win the Hindmarsh Plumbing Handicap (1050m) at Morphettville on July 27.

Hill Spy’s impressive victory was enough to earn him a nomination for the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m) and trainer Robert Smerdon is hoping to get an insight into the three-year-olds true quality when he takes on a strong field on the weekend.

“He was quiet impressive in Adelaide fair to say it is a big step up in grade on Saturday,” Smerdon told Racing Ahead on RSN.

“I’m interested to see how he measures up against these horses.”

Hill Spy showed an impressive finishing burst in his debut victory and Smerdon said he is hoping to see the same sort of acceleration on Saturday.

“We think that he is more effective ridden off the speed and he will be ridden that way on Saturday,” Smerdon said.

“He does have a good turn-of-foot and he did put paid to them fairly well.

“It will be a quality test for him and we will get some direction out of that no doubt.”

Hill Spy will face a number of other Caulfield Guineas hopefuls in the Vain Stakes, with six of the nine runners in the race nominated for the three-year-old classic, and he will move up significantly in the Caulfield Guineas betting market if he is successful against the likes of Darley colt Safeguard, Peter Moody-trained Il Cavallo and last start winner Clevadude this Saturday.

Smerdon is chasing his first ever victory in the Caulfield Guineas.