Group Three winner Sherrif will return to the races this weekend when he steps out in the Rating 82 Bay Ford NZ Punter Of The Year 6 October (1400m) at Hawke’s Bay on Saturday, but Roger James, who trains in partnership with Robert Wellwood, believes the son of High Chaparral will derive plenty of improvement from the run.

“He’s like a lot of our team at present having a first-up run, give us a month or six weeks and we will have a lot of nice horses ready to fire,” James said.

“They’re going to be vulnerable fresh-up. It’s been a wet winter and I am pretty careful with them on the training track when they’re rain-affected.”