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Two horses gelded after their spring preparations will be making their respective returns to racing at Rosehill on Saturday.

In a sport where the difference between winning and losing can be a matter of millimetres, the decision by two leading trainers to geld a pair of stakes winners could prove pivotal. 

The Team Snowden-trained Carif will have his first start as a gelding in the Doncaster Prelude (1500m) at Rosehill on Saturday, as will John Sargent 's Brandenburg, who returns in the Star Kingdom Stakes (1200m). 

After showcasing his staying talent with placings in the 2019 Hotham Handicap and Queen Elizabeth at Flemington, Carif struggled to consistently reproduce that form. 

Not even an overdue Sandown Cup victory last November could convince connections to keep him an entire and co-trainer Peter Snowden is hoping the gelding procedure can be an important catalyst. 

"There's a future for him. He's a really good mile-and-a-half to two-mile horse and who knows what happens this prep?" Snowden said. 

"Now he has been gelded, that will help him because there were times he was just getting too revved up pre-race and during a race. 

"With a better temperament now, it might just give him that two lengths he has been needing." 

Sargent likewise made the tough call to send 2020 Doncaster Mile placegetter Brandenburg under the knife after he failed to deliver on his promise in the spring. 

The Randwick trainer says the four-year-old's focus has improved significantly and he expects him to stretch out in trip as a gelding. 

"He will run in a couple of sprints here then go up to Brisbane for the Hollindale and the Doomben Cup and there is also a $1.5 million staying race there," Sargent said. 

"The aim is to get him to some staying races in the spring, which is why we are bringing him in towards the end of the carnival now. 

"He is a lot more relaxed and he is bred to get over a bit of ground."