Close to two years of planning will be on the line when West Australian raider Bridgestone makes his spring carnival debut in the Group Three Norman Robinson Stakes at Caulfield.Champion Perth trainer Neville Parnham is encouraged by how well Bridgestone travelled to Melbourne on Wednesday for what will be a critical assignment on Saturday leading in to the Victoria Derby (2500m) at the end of the month."Everything basically has fallen into place so far and it is just a matter of whether he can

Close to two years of planning will be on the line when West Australian raider Bridgestone makes his spring carnival debut in the Group Three Norman Robinson Stakes at Caulfield.

Champion Perth trainer Neville Parnham is encouraged by how well Bridgestone travelled to Melbourne on Wednesday for what will be a critical assignment on Saturday leading in to the Victoria Derby (2500m) at the end of the month.

"Everything basically has fallen into place so far and it is just a matter of whether he can measure up," Parnham said.

Parnham and fellow owners Bob Pearson, Mike Fagan and Wayne Walker paid $NZ200,000 for the Pentire colt as a prospective Derby horse at the New Zealand sales in January 2008 and the early results have taken them by surprise.

"He went a lot better than we thought he would as most of the Pentire stock don't even race as two-year-olds," Parnham said.

After a couple of moderate early trials, the blinkers went on Bridgestone and he contested Western Australia's premier juvenile race, the Group Two Karrakatta Plate (1200m), and placed third Group Three WA Sires Produce Stakes (1400m).

"We thought then we were heading in the right direction with him," Parnham said.

"At his next start we ran him in a mile (1600m) quality race and from virtually last he swamped them down the outside and won very well.

"At that point we decided to put him away thinking that if he comes up okay in the spring we would have a go at the Victoria Derby."

He wasn't suited in sprint races at his first runs this campaign but booked his trip east beating a small field by nearly four lengths over 1650m.

Parnham said pushing out to 2000 metres was in Bridgestone's favour on Saturday and that his son Brad, who resumed riding on Wednesday after recovering from a fall, would have his first ride in Melbourne on him.

He said Bridgestone had solid gallops last Saturday and Tuesday before arriving at Flemington on Wednesday where he has settled in well.

"He ate up last night and had a look around Flemington this morning," Parnham said.

Most recently Plastered showed that West Australian horses can win the Derby when he was successful in 2004.

Bridgestone is one of only nine runners in the Norman Robinson and TAB Sportsbet opened him at $9 on Thursday.

Last-start Flemington stakes winner Shamoline Warrior is $3.60 favourite ahead of Tribunal ($4.40) who was third at Flemington and is racing in the blinkers for the first time.