Hurried Choice is showing trainer David Payne she is ready for a sprinter's campaign and he gives the classy mare a big chance in Thursday night's Canterbury Classic.Payne will launch a double assault on the Listed 1100-metre race with Hurried Choice's stablemate Hairy among the small but classy field of eight which includes the Peter Snowden-trained Desuetude.Four-year-old Hurried Choice has not raced since being unplaced in the Group Two International Sprint (1100m) at Caulfield on October 18.

Hurried Choice is showing trainer David Payne she is ready for a sprinter's campaign and he gives the classy mare a big chance in Thursday night's Canterbury Classic.

Payne will launch a double assault on the Listed 1100-metre race with Hurried Choice's stablemate Hairy among the small but classy field of eight which includes the Peter Snowden-trained Desuetude.

Four-year-old Hurried Choice has not raced since being unplaced in the Group Two International Sprint (1100m) at Caulfield on October 18.

That performance followed a disappointing run in the Gilgai Stakes (1200m) down the straight at Flemington two weeks earlier.

Her Melbourne flops followed her outstanding all-the-way half-neck win over Forensics in the Group Two Theo Marks (1300m) at Rosehill in September.

Payne has nominated Hurried Choice for the Doncaster Mile at Randwick in April but said the mare was unlikely to run over 1600 metres this time in.

Four of Hurried Choice's five career wins have been at 1200 metres or under and that's the range Payne wants to keep her in.

"We gave her a trial a couple of weeks ago and she is showing us that she is going to be better suited as a sprinter," Payne said.

"We put her in the Doncaster just in case but I'd say she'll have a sprinter's prep this campaign."

Hurried Choice has drawn barrier one and will be ridden by regular jockey Jeff Lloyd.

"It's the perfect gate for her, she'll be able to get close to the speed and with a bit of luck she can win the race," Payne said.

Hairy comes into the race after a slashing victory in the Listed Carrington Stakes (1100m) at Randwick on New Year's Day and will jump from barrier three with Blake Shinn taking over from Lloyd.

"She's in with a top chance and she'll be sitting just off them in the run and if she can produce another big finish like she did the other day then she will be there in the finish," Payne said.

"There's no doubt Desuetude is the horse to beat but my two are in good order for the race."

Desuetude won his first three starts including the Group Three Run To The Rose and was spelled after his close third to Duporth in the $1 million Golden Rose in August.

Hurried Choice won the Listed Gimcrack Stakes (1000m) on debut in her two-year-old season and last year defeated Keen Commander by a length in the Group Two Challenge Stakes over the same trip.

Payne stepped her up to 1400 metres for the Hobartville Stakes last year but she finished only 10th to Serious Speed.