Linebacker’s spring campaign never quite hit its intended marks for the second straight season, but his trainers remain confident the gelding’s best racing lies ahead in the autumn.

Winner of the Randwick Guineas earlier in the year, Linebacker was aimed at the traditional Epsom Handicap into Golden Eagle pathway, before a minor setback derailed those plans.

Although he rebounded to take out the Silver Eagle (1300m), his disrupted build-up left him vulnerable in the Golden Eagle, where he finished seventh behind Autumn Glow.

“It was a testing 1500 and we would have preferred to go in off a mile run,” co-trainer Tom Charlton said.

“The ground was chopped up, he got further back than ideal and then the run shut on him late. It was just one of those days where nothing lined up.”

Last spring also produced setbacks, with Linebacker then still a colt and losing his way enough to see him gelded.

The alteration paid dividends in the autumn, where he delivered the Randwick Guineas and a luckless effort in the Doncaster Mile.

“He’ll head for a break now and return in the autumn, refreshed,” Charlton said.

“Races like the Canterbury Stakes, George Ryder and Doncaster are there for him and we’ll learn more about his ideal distance as we go.”

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