Poor Judge won't be heading to Sydney for the spring even though his trainer Norm Hilton is confident the Toowoomba sprinter can pass a distance test at Doomben.Poor Judge will be stepping up in distance to 1615 metres for the first time in Saturday's Rohrig Constructions Handicap.The five-year-old, who won the Listed Weetwood Handicap (1300m) at Toowoomba in April, just failed at his first attempt over 1350 metres when beaten in a photo-finish by Meet George at Doomben last month.Hilton conside

Poor Judge won't be heading to Sydney for the spring even though his trainer Norm Hilton is confident the Toowoomba sprinter can pass a distance test at Doomben.

Poor Judge will be stepping up in distance to 1615 metres for the first time in Saturday's Rohrig Constructions Handicap.

The five-year-old, who won the Listed Weetwood Handicap (1300m) at Toowoomba in April, just failed at his first attempt over 1350 metres when beaten in a photo-finish by Meet George at Doomben last month.

Hilton considered sending Poor Judge to Sydney for some of the better spring races but has decided to stay at home with the son of Royal Academy.

"He's staying at home and will have one more run before going for a spell," Hilton said.

"I'll give him a good break and bring him back for the winter with the Stradbroke Handicap his mission.

"There's been too many wet tracks in Sydney and he's not a good traveller so it wasn't a hard decision to stay here."

Poor Judge has a stable pony named Peppi which accompanies him on every float trip on race days.

Hilton has warned Poor Judge's appearance at Doomben will be determined by the weather.

"I want to keep him away from wet tracks and there's a forecast for rain," he said.

"The track is okay at the moment but if it's too wet I won't run him on Saturday."

Hilton has conferred with Poor Judge's regular rider Chris Munce about the gelding's prospects of running 1615 metres.

"I spoke to Chris after his last run and he says he'll have no problems getting the trip," Hilton said.

"It's a test for him tomorrow but I can't see why he can't get it the way he's been working.

"He pulled up well following his last run and his fitness has improved."

Hilton was pleased with Poor Judge's effort behind Meet George last start.

"He drew the outside barrier and had to go forward and do it the hard way," he said.

"We had no choice to ride him that way from the alley."

Hilton is confident Poor Judge can add to his tally of 10 wins from 22 starts.

"I don't regard the distance as too much of a problem and on his work I'm confident he'll be hard to beat," he said.