Trainer Tracy Green is hoping a shoeing experiment and a trip back in time can put Mr Hornblower in contention for a Sydney trip when he makes his comeback at Doomben on Saturday.Mr Hornblower, who resumes in the Kings Bloodstock Handicap (1110m), has not started since his eye-catching performance when flashing home from last to finish fourth to The Jackal in the Listed Ramornie Handicap (1200m) at Grafton in July.Also in front of him in the Ramornie were subsequent Group Three Missile Stakes wi

Trainer Tracy Green is hoping a shoeing experiment and a trip back in time can put Mr Hornblower in contention for a Sydney trip when he makes his comeback at Doomben on Saturday.

Mr Hornblower, who resumes in the Kings Bloodstock Handicap (1110m), has not started since his eye-catching performance when flashing home from last to finish fourth to The Jackal in the Listed Ramornie Handicap (1200m) at Grafton in July.

Also in front of him in the Ramornie were subsequent Group Three Missile Stakes winner Captain Bax and Typhoon Zed, winner of the Group One Manikato Stakes (1200m) at Moonee Valley on September 13.

Green has broken from her custom of giving Mr Hornblower a barrier trial prior to his resumption and conceded her decision to run the seven-year-old over 1110 metres was another experiment.

"This is the shortest race he's been in since he was a three-year-old," Green said.

"He hasn't won since the Eye Liner Stakes last year so I thought I would try something different with him.

"I freshened him up for the Ramornie and I thought his run was huge and the form out of that race is very good.

"I haven't given him a barrier trial and he's wearing silicon pads for the first time."

Mr Hornblower, whose career has been plagued by feet problems, is normally shod with a rubber underlay to cushion his racing plates to protect his tender soles.

However, Green has dispensed with the rubber protection and will use silicon as an experiment to help Mr Hornblower break a 15-month drought since his last victory in the Listed Eye Liner Stakes (1350m) in June last year.

"He's had feet problems all his life and I normally use rubber to protect them but I'm giving silicon a go this time," she said.

"It's quite common and it's squirted on his feet before the shoe is nailed on."

Green is hoping her decision to alter his shoeing will prove successful but she admits she has reservations with the 1110-metre trip for Mr Hornblower.

"Hopefully the silicon shoes work but I think they'll probably be too quick for him over this trip," she said.

"I want to give him another run in a 1200-metre Quality in two weeks which will be a better guide.

"If he goes well in that then I'm thinking of popping him down to Sydney when their good horses head to Melbourne.

"I haven't chosen any particular race in Sydney yet but I'd like to give him his chance down there."

Green, who has eight horses in work, landed the biggest race of her career when Mr Hornblower won last year's Eye Liner at Ipswich.

Mr Hornblower failed to repeat his Eye Liner victory this year when finishing sixth, only two lengths behind the Pat Sexton-trained winner Sneaky Long.