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Trainer Brad Widdup is certain lightly raced four-year-old Global Ausbred has a nice win in him somewhere along the line and is hoping that thought is underlined with another strong performance at Newcastle on Saturday.

The unheralded four-year-old almost snuck into the $10m Golden Eagle when he narrowly missed third place in the $1m Silver Eagle as a $201 chance first-up this spring and while Widdup had a deliberate 'throw at the stumps' there he's relieved he didn't have to take on the big guns.

But he did race at Rosehill on Golden Eagle day where he finished second behind the smart Waterford and it told Widdup that Global Ausbred is a horse on the way up.

"The writing was on the wall last time through, he won three races in a prep,'' he said.

"He wasn't quite good enough for better races so he was racing in lower grades but he did run terrific on the Hawkesbury stand alone meeting.

"I think he's a fair horse but he's probably not there yet.

"I wanted to run in the Golden Eagle. I will say that race is getting ridiculously strong so you're going to need to have a very good horse to win that. The form stacks up every year.

"I thought he was going well enough to have a throw at the stumps, I'm probably happy we didn't get in because he's probably not ready for that class.

"But the Silver Eagle backed up what we thought his ability was."

On the back of those runs, and with Hugh Bowman retaining the ride, Global Ausbred was $4 favourite with TAB on Thursday for the Alf Kneebone Trans-Tasman Trophy (1850m) at Newcastle's The Hunter meeting.

Widdup said with runs at 1300m and 1500m under his belt now he's ready to step the horse out in trip and senses he's found a nice, albeit still not easy, race to do so.

"He's still not out to his right distance, a mile to 2000m is going to be his right distance and this race looks the right stepping stone,'' he said.

"It's no walk in the park, take Waterford out and it's probably a little stronger than last time.

"There's still nice races around in November and December so we'll keep tracking along and seeing if we can get his benchmark up.

"He's going to be one of those horses when he does put it together he's going to do something. We've got Hughie on, a good barrier and a good track so we'll see what happens."

Youngster Fire Lane makes her debut in the NZB Airfreight Max Lees Classic (900m) on the back of one trial and while he said in an ideal world she'd have had a second trial she's proven professional at home.

"She's very bombproof, a great attitude. Why not have a go,'' he said.

"She seems to do everything right, she's picked up what it's all about really quick. I was happy with her trial, she's pulled through it well and 900m at Newcastle is a good starting point."

Short Shorts is set to back-up after her easy all the way win at Rosehill last week in the Doubletree By Hilton Karaka Handicap (1400m) with Widdup citing it as an opportunity to see how she reacts to a quick turnaround.

He said it's not something he likes to do early in a preparation but with four runs under her belt now fitness isn't going to be an issue.

"It looks a nice race for her, she's pulled up really well,'' he said.

"She's had four runs in the prep and I think it is always good to see how they do back up. Two weeks between races sometimes is a long two weeks.

"She's starting to improve, she's always lacked a few brains but she's turned the corner and settled down to be a racehorse."

Meanwhile, with a Group 1 win finally in the bag stable star Icebath will enjoy a summer break before preparing for another autumn campaign.