Since the four-year-old son of Star Turn stamped himself as a horse to follow in the three-year-old races in June and July last year, Silent Is Gold had drawn wide barriers 12, eight and 10 at his last three starts. While he won the first of those races in Class 4 company on September 24, it had been tough at his last two runs in Class 3 company.

He finished in second at his most recent start on November 26, when he was beaten only half-a-length behind Moongate Star after he sat three-wide on the pace throughout , but the wide gates definitely took their toll and Saturday's run look no easier with the outermost gate.

Rubbing salt into the wound was to have his toughest rival – the smart Street Of Dreams – draw the coveted gate one, but Gray can only take it in his big stride and hope for the best come race day.

"It is what it is," rued Gray from the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in Australia on Thursday.

"He never draws a gate, that's the way it goes sometimes but he never runs a bad race either.

"He has gate speed so he always puts himself into contention and hopefully, (jockey) Ronnie (Stewart) can get some cover and he is some hope.

"But (trainer) Steve's (Steven Burridge) horse (Street Of Dreams ) is a beauty. Steve's done a great job with him – I'm impressed - and he might be hard to beat from gate one.

"(Trainer) Tim (Fitzsimmons) has a couple (Dancing Light and Gold Ten Sixty-One) that go pretty well on the Poly(track) too, so it might be the best Poly(track) sprinter on the day wins."

While Silent Is Gold  has placed on the Polytrack and ran well in barrier trials, Gray suggested that the turf is where he performs the best.

"His trial the other day (won trial no. 1 on January 3 in 1 min 0.41secs) was very good and he wasn't far away on the Poly(track) at his last start, but he's a better turf horse in my opinion," explained Gray.

"Unfortunately, there are no turf races early in the year but this is a good starting point and it's better to run him on the Poly(track) and try to earn a cheque than sending him back to the trials.

"He will work through the grades and when he does, there are some nice turf feature races we will look at."

Having already placed at Group level (second in the Group 3 Singapore Three-Year-Old Sprint in 2022), Silent Is Gold has shown that he is better than average but racing fans will be happy to hear that Gray thinks the gelding has improved since then.

"He's matured both mentally and physically," he said.

"He's a different horse to the one that came to me last year. He keeps improving and I'm really happy with how he is at the moment.

"We will find the right races for him to progress – an inside gate or two wouldn't hurt, right? – and he will win some nice races for his owners (Buddy Buddy Stable)."

While Silent Is Gold is one of the most progressive horses in the stable, Gray thinks a couple of his bread-and-butter types could also figure elsewhere on the card.

"We call them the 'rest home brigade'," quipped Gray of his some of his older horses.

"Retallica (running in the $30,000 Class 5 Division 2 race over 1200m) is in the right race and should go well and Our Pinnacle also looks a chance in the last (a $50,000 Class 4 race over 1200m) for (apprentice jockey) Fahmi (Rosman) and his four-kilo claim.

"He's (Fahmi) a really good kid. His first (and only) winner was on Silent Is Gold (September 24) and I think he is a good rider.

"He helped us out when there weren't many jockeys around to work our horses, so it's nice to give him another good ride - he deserves it."