Senior part-owner Bill Naoum is considering backing-up veteran sprinter Daunting Lad in next week's Listed Ramornie Handicap following his Ascot Handicap assignment at Eagle Farm on Saturday.But the scenario will only occur if the rising nine-year-old's future stud career is resolved before the 1200-metre Grafton sprint on Wednesday.Daunting Lad, the winner of 10 of his 64 starts, will be ridden for the fifth consecutive time by Scott Seamer in Saturday's 1200-metre feature.Naoum is keen to stan

Senior part-owner Bill Naoum is considering backing-up veteran sprinter Daunting Lad in next week's Listed Ramornie Handicap following his Ascot Handicap assignment at Eagle Farm on Saturday.

But the scenario will only occur if the rising nine-year-old's future stud career is resolved before the 1200-metre Grafton sprint on Wednesday.

Daunting Lad, the winner of 10 of his 64 starts, will be ridden for the fifth consecutive time by Scott Seamer in Saturday's 1200-metre feature.

Naoum is keen to stand Daunting Lad at stud in the southeast Queensland region but so far talks have only been held with a small central Queensland stud outside Rockhampton.

"I'd love to keep him in the local area like Lyndhurst Stud at Warwick," Naoum said.

"I haven't had any talks with Lyndhurst yet but I'd welcome it if it happened.

"If we can finalise a stud deal quickly then I'd probably retire him after the Ramornie, otherwise he'll go for a spell next week and come back for the summer series at Doomben in December."

Naoum had two provisos for Daunting Lad to back-up in the Ramornie Handicap.

"It's not definite he'll run in the Ramornie," Naoum said.

"But if we can find a stud for him before then and provided he pulls up well after the Ascot then the Ramornie could be his last race."

Naoum trained Daunting Lad for most of his career before deciding to take a break and gave him to Eagle Farm trainer Danny Bougoure to prepare two preparations ago.

Daunting Lad broke a long run of outs when he won last month's Listed Lightning Handicap (1000m) at Eagle Farm.

It was his first victory since scoring at Doomben in February 2008.

"He's still very sound and a great old horse to train," Bougoure said.

Daunting Lad followed his Lightning victory with a disappointing seventh to former Perth flyer Hay List in the Group Three Healy Stakes (1200m) at Eagle Farm on June 27.

"He was beaten 10 lengths but the winner won by seven so he was only about three lengths from the runner-up," Bougoure said.

"He got back in the Healy and he didn't like the fill being thrown up in his face that day."

Bougoure believes Daunting Lad can redeem himself in the Ascot but conceded the barrier draw and his topweight of 58 kilograms made his task harder.

"His big weight and barrier 11 are his two main worries," he said.

"He'll need a bit of luck but he'll be competitive as usual."