MORNINGTON trainer Pat Carey is under no illusion that his task of reconnecting former top-line sprinter Cannonball with the form that made the six-year-old an international success in the past three years will test him, reports The Age.Its report adds: Cannonball will make his Victorian debut at Caulfield on Saturday in the listed Doveton Stakes but the race will be more of a fact-finding mission for the stable to see at what level the horse will compete.The US-born Cannonball raced with group

MORNINGTON trainer Pat Carey is under no illusion that his task of reconnecting former top-line sprinter Cannonball with the form that made the six-year-old an international success in the past three years will test him, reports The Age.

Its report adds: Cannonball will make his Victorian debut at Caulfield on Saturday in the listed Doveton Stakes but the race will be more of a fact-finding mission for the stable to see at what level the horse will compete.

The US-born Cannonball raced with group success in England and performed honestly in Hong Kong but appears to have lost his way since arriving in Australia.

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Sydney-based trainer Gai Waterhouse took over Cannonball's training early last year but the sprinter failed to reproduce his overseas form, a point not lost on Carey.

''It won't be easy, he's been around to a few stables so I'm just taking him slowly and hoping that a little bit of TLC and just a bit of coaxing could bring him into some form,'' he said. ''But he's been here for 10 weeks and I'm just learning about him.''