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Ruling favourite Tassort did his Golden Slipper prospects no harm with an efficient barrier trial win at Rosehill on Monday.

The unbeaten Godolphin colt had his first trial since his resounding five lengths win on debut at Rosehill in November and wasn’t out to run records in his 895m heat on the inside grass.

Tassort sat behind the leader and easily gained the upper hand in the last 100m with his rider James McDonald allowing him to do just enough to win the trial by a decisive margin of 1.3 lengths from the unraced Covert Ops, another I Am Invincible colt trained by Gerald Ryan, also ran quick time wining his 2YO heat in his first appearance since his photo finish second in the Breeders Plate at Randwick in September.

Ridden by Brett Prebble, Covert Ops ran 54 seconds flat after using his natural speed to take control of his heat from the start.

Dual Everest winner Redzel and Caulfield Guineas winner The Autumn Sun both finished fourth in their trials.

The Autumn Sun, preparing to resume in the Hobartville Stakes at Rosehill on February 23, trialled in blinkers but didn’t have the sprint to match his classy stablemate Zousain as that colt won the only 1000m heat on the course proper for Group and Listed horses in 59.08 seconds.

Zousain, having his second trial since he finished second to Sunlight in the G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes at Flemington in November, is set to tackle the G1 Newmarket Handicap over that same course first-up on March 9.

Redzel returns! The dual TheEverest champ, without blinkers, finished fourth in his trial behind the impressive Dyslexic. pic.twitter.com/7kTmbx6hPj

— Racing NSWFebruary 10, 2019

Redzel went through the motions in his open heat over 900m on the inside grass, sitting behind a line of three leaders and railing up to be beaten only half a length in a blanket finish in an effort that satisfied his co-trainer Peter Snowden.

“He’s only had a soft trial but I was happy with that, I thought he trialled nicely,” said Snowden.

“He looks after himself and we’ll give him another trial to tune him up which will see him ready for his return in the Challenge Stakes on March 10.”

The quality mare Dyslexia won the heat in 54.44 seconds, the fastest time of the four trials over 900m.

The unbeaten Hawkes-trained 3YO Brutal was a star of the morning, winning his 895m trial in the quickest time of the eight heats over that distance (53.37 seconds).

Zousain under a good grip for and wins the opening trial at ahead of I Am Serious, Spright and the Doncaster Mile favourite The Autumn Sun. pic.twitter.com/m80a2geGcW

— Sky Racing February 10, 2019