Trainer Gavin Bedggood is set to unveil stable newcomer Regal Lion at Mornington this Saturday, with a gear adjustment following a recent trial run tipping the scales in favour of a visor over blinkers.

Regal Lion, previously prepared by Annabel and Rob Archibald, will step out for the first time under Bedggood’s care in the Enchanted Adventure Handicap (2000m), after a second-place finish in a 1500m Cranbourne trial on the Caulfield Heath circuit last week.

Bedggood consulted jockey Beau Mertens after the trial and decided a change in headgear could sharpen the gelding’s competitive edge for his first outing since the Listed Canberra Cup in March.

“He arrived to me in good order,” Bedggood said.

“He’s a sound horse and we gave him a trial at Caulfield last Thursday.

“He hasn’t been a winner for a long time, so I wanted to see if we could give him a bit of a victory.

“He went around them pretty easily and he looked like he was going to put them away, but he had a bit of a wait.

“Watching on and then listening to Beau’s feedback, we’ll replace blinkers with visors and hopefully that can be the trick with him.”

The team at Cranbourne has also been mixing up the gelding’s routine, introducing a varied training approach in hopes of reigniting his form.

“We’ve been doing a bit of jumping with him,” Bedggood added.

“He arrived a very fit horse, so we haven’t had to do much with him in between times, it’s more so just keeping him happy.

“Our environment at Cranbourne is we have yards, we’ve got the sandhills, and that seems to have worked well for him, so I would like to think he would get the chance to run well and the best of him would see him competitive for sure.”