A lack of suitable staying races could force an early departure to Sydney for Queensland Cup placegetter Raeburn.Raeburn has not raced for over a month since his gritty third to Tinseltown in the Listed Queensland Cup (3200m) on July 9 and will be on trial for an interstate trip in Saturday's St Margaret's Anglican Girls School Handicap (1820m) at Eagle Farm.Trainer Brian Smith hopes to start Raeburn and stablemate Hume in the Group Three Newcastle Cup (2300m) on September 15 and possibly the Gr

A lack of suitable staying races could force an early departure to Sydney for Queensland Cup placegetter Raeburn.

Raeburn has not raced for over a month since his gritty third to Tinseltown in the Listed Queensland Cup (3200m) on July 9 and will be on trial for an interstate trip in Saturday's St Margaret's Anglican Girls School Handicap (1820m) at Eagle Farm.

Trainer Brian Smith hopes to start Raeburn and stablemate Hume in the Group Three Newcastle Cup (2300m) on September 15 and possibly the Group One Metropolitan (2400m) at Randwick in October.

Smith won the Newcastle Cup in 2006 with Bikkie Tin Blues and is keen to repeat the feat with either Hume or Raeburn.

However, he has become frustrated with the programming of staying races in Brisbane and could be forced to send the pair south earlier than planned.

"There's no open company staying races around for Raeburn before the end of the month and that's too late for him," Smith said.

"Saturday's race is a Benchmark 85 race. They are a good idea but they don't cater for staying horses looking to go south at this time of the year.

"It's a very hard time of the year trying to get a horse ready for the spring."

Smith has engaged claiming apprentice Ben Looker for Raeburn to offset his topweight of 59.5 kilograms.

"Scott Galloway rode him in the Queensland Cup but with 59.5 kilos I've had to claim on him," Smith said.

"Scott is out anyway after breaking his foot when a horse fell on him at the Gold Coast barrier trials a few weeks ago."

Smith has reservations whether Raeburn can make a successful return but is confident the seven-year-old can be competitive.

"He's had an easy time since the Queensland Cup and I'll make up my mind after Saturday whether I send him down for the Newcastle Cup with Hume," he said.

"Hume is in the same boat as there's nothing around for him here either."

Hume, a son of Zabeel, pleased Smith when a courageous fourth to LakeGeorge in a 1630-metre Open Handicap at Doomben last Saturday.

"It was a solid run considering he was caught three wide most of the way," he said.

"If he was in this race on Saturday he would have got 70 kilos."

Hume has started five times this campaign after a long break through injury.

The gelding suffered a serious tendon injury which almost ended his career after finishing fifth in the Group Three Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2500m) at Flemington in November 2009.

He spent almost 20 months recuperating from the leg injury before making his comeback during the recent Brisbane winter carnival.