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Track conditions at Randwick hold the key to the final feature race of the autumn carnival.

Sydney's unpredictable weather is again threatening the Group 1 prospects of Everest runner-up Private Eye, whose connections are keeping a close watch on track conditions at Randwick. 

Trainer Joe Pride says the horse is flying but he won't be tempted to run him in Saturday's All Aged Stakes (1400m) on anything worse than a soft 7. 

While Randwick was still a soft 5 on Thursday, the forecast for showers and storms over the ensuing 24 hours have Pride understandably nervous. 

"The horse is going great, I'm convinced of it," Pride said. 

"It will be such a shame if I don't get to pull him out of the garage on Saturday but what do you do? 

"I'm not going to run again on a heavy track, so I just hope we get something better than that for him." 

Private Eye beat just one rival home on a heavy track in the T J Smith Stakes (1200m) when he not only struck an unsuitable surface that deteriorated throughout the day, but severe mid-race interference that put him out of play. 

Thankfully, he took no harm from the incident, although Pride's patience took a battering. 

"The weather was probably going to put pay to him and then the interference finished off what the weather didn't do," Pride said. 

"The real positive to come out of it was he took absolutely no harm from it. Brenton (Avdulla) just shut the afterburners off and let him coast home, so it wasn't a hard day out. 

"I couldn't be happier with the horse, that's the shame of it. I'm desperate to get him off to the races. He's going great, looks fantastic, I just want to get him there. 

"It's a really good race on Saturday and you'd love to see it run on a soft six because Jacquinot, Lost And Running, none of them want it heavy either. " 

A wet track won't worry stablemate Coal Crusher who will have blinkers for the first time this campaign in his quest for a maiden black-type success in the Group 3 Hall Mark Stakes (1200m). 

The on-speed gelding resumed with a solid fourth in the Maurice McCarten Stakes (1100m) then was narrowly denied in a three-way finish to the Star Kingdom Stakes (1200m). 

"There's still good improvement to come with him, but third run back you'd expect to see him close to his top," Pride said. 

"It's a big day for him and hopefully it's his first stakes win." 

Brutality rounds out Pride's team and while the enigmatic gelding hasn't won for 16 months, he races well second-up, has been pleasing the team at home and should appreciate a drop back to benchmark company. 

"He's frustrating, but these sort of races are where he should be able to break through because he's well back in grade," Pride said.