Sir Nate put himself in contention for an early season feature three-year-old event when winning at last week’s Foxton trials.

The stakes-winning son of Nadeem won an open 850-metre heat in his first public appearance since his eye-catching third behind Avantage and Melt in the Gr.1 Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) at Awapuni on March 31.

“It was a bit of a surprise,” trainer Lisa Latta said. “He’s coming up well and he’ll probably go to that three-year-old race on the first day at Hastings.”

The race is the Listed $50,000 El Roca – Sir Colin Meads Trophy (1200m) on September 1 and if he performs well he will be back at Hastings for the Gr.2 $100,000 Sacred Falls Hawke’s Bay Guineas (1400m) on October 6.

Sir Nate has won three of his six starts, including the Listed Wellesley Stakes (1000m) at Trentham.