Could smart sprinter English be just an autumn horse?

That is the question trainer Adrian Bott could not answer, other than to say she is going just as well as last year heading into Saturday's Challenge Stakes at Randwick, a race she won first-up 12 months ago.

"You are going to see a different filly to the one you saw in the spring," Bott admitted about English. "She was going well heading into that preparation but she had no luck in her first couple of runs and it looks disappointing on paper.

"She has come back to the stable very fresh and reminded me of what she was like last year when she won this race and then went on to win an All-Aged [Stakes].

"She has won both her [barrier[ trials and there is certainly a spring in her step."

English has a great autumn record and has won on this day for the past two years. She was too good in a Reisling Stakes as a two-year-old before going on to be runner-up to Vancouver in the Golden Slipper. Last year she exploded through the field from last to win the Challenge.

That effort came after almost a year on the sidelines after she failed to come to hand as a spring three-year-old. While she was only a couple of lengths from quality sprinter Takedown and Rebel Dane in the spring it wasn't the English that punters had come to expect in the spring.

"There is definitely a difference in her when I compare her from the filly we had in the spring," Bott said. "I think she should handle the ground and I think she is in for a very good preparation."

The Gai Waterhouse-Bott partnership have another flying filly in Scarlet Rain in the Fireball Quality earlier in the afternoon and although she has topweight for the three-year-old sprint she drops five kilograms to 57 kilograms.

"It was just a brave effort last time under that big weight," Bott said. "We had to go to that race to have her right for this race, there was no other option, and we have a lot of respect for the winner Tactical Advantage.

"Scarlet Rain is one we know goes on heavy ground and she will not know herself with the drop in the weights."

Tulloch Lodge will also debut Ugo Foscolo in Australia. It was purchased after winning the New Zealand 2000 Guineas and tackles Saturday's Canterbury Stakes as he heads towards the Doncaster Mile.

"He won his maiden on a bottomless track and is group 1 winner over there and we have a bit of an opinion of him," Bott said.

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