Mazu entered the spring with a Group 1 win to his name in the Doomben 10,000 and a two-year Everest deal and Clipperton said his first-up effort to finish under 2-1/2 lengths behind the defending champ showed he's in the game.
With that run in the Shorts under his belt, Clipperton is expecting a lot more from the four-year-old on Saturday.
"To know we are on track for an Everest we want to see him finish top three,'' he said.
"The Shorts told us we are in with a chance.Nature Strip is going to be awfully hard to beat but it told us he can mix it with them.
"He won six in a row going into that and it showed us we have a contender on our hands.
"First-up last preparation he won a Benchmark 78 and first-up this preparation he was beaten 2.4 by Nature Strip. He's only going to continue getting better as well.
"I'm sure he is going to be very competitive this year but next year he's going to be more seasoned against the hard heads."
The Peter and Paul Snowden-trained gelding was exposed a bit earlier in The Shorts than Clipperton would have hoped but he said the way the race was run didn't help his cause.
While Premiere favourite Lost And Running ran past Mazu at the 100m, the jockey said the way he rallied late was a positive sign and he'll take significant improvement from it.
"Realistically we couldn't have asked him to do much more,'' he said.
"He was beaten 2.4 lengths in a race on paper that looked like they were going to go very fast and as it turned out it was the complete opposite.
"We had to stride up three wide no cover and he was strong at the end of it. Going into the race we knew we had improvement up our sleeve with him.
"He's come on beautiful from his first-up run, his coat is starting to really glow now and he's trimmed up nicely."
Mazu is on the third line of Everest betting at $11 and was $4.60 second elect in the Premiere with TAB on Thursday.
He's drawn the inside alley and is proven in heavy ground so Clipperton said there's a lot to be confident about heading into Saturday.
"The barrier allows me to take up a nice position behind the speed,'' he said.
"We need luck at the right time but it eliminates the luck establishing a position early in the race. It's a race we would be expecting him to be very competitive in."
Clipperton is adamant Joe Pride's talented stayer Stockman will be a big force in the Group 1 $750,000 Furphy Metropolitan (2400m).
The six-year-old has improved with each of his three runs this spring and his last start fourth in the Kingston Town Stakes (2000m) showed the jockey he's right on target.
"His first-up run was a cracker, even though he ran second last he ran the quickest last furlong of the day, and in the Chelmsford he was solid enough,'' he said.
"He was back in the field on a day that was playing to the front runners.
"But he was really good in the Kingston Town. It was the first time where I could build into the race and he made a long sustained run and was solid to the line.
"That run would have topped him off nicely and he should be ready to go at 2400m."
Stockman, $6.50 with TAB on Thursday, has won just once in 11 Randwick starts but his 2400m form is strong and he's a noted wet track performer.
"If he repeats the performance of when he ran second in the Tancred to Duais you'd think that would have him winning,'' Clipperton said.
"He seems to be getting better with a bit of age and miles in his legs and this year's Metropolitan looks a very even race. With the right run he can be right there."