Blake Spriggs watched Squamosa and was amazed at the colt's improvement but never dreamt he'd get the opportunity to partner him on race day.Squamosa's wet track ability has him the dominant favourite for Saturday's Run To The Rose (1300m) at Rosehill and Spriggs was shocked when told by Gai Waterhouse that he'd be the three-year-old's new rider in the Group Three event.The apprentice is now looking to land his first Group win having last month claimed a breakthrough stakes victory on Mr Unforge

Blake Spriggs watched Squamosa and was amazed at the colt's improvement but never dreamt he'd get the opportunity to partner him on race day.

Squamosa's wet track ability has him the dominant favourite for Saturday's Run To The Rose (1300m) at Rosehill and Spriggs was shocked when told by Gai Waterhouse that he'd be the three-year-old's new rider in the Group Three event.

The apprentice is now looking to land his first Group win having last month claimed a breakthrough stakes victory on Mr Unforgettable in the Listed Winter Stakes.

"Gai said to me on Sunday, `You know you are riding Squamosa?'," Spriggs said.

"I said no, and she just said `Yes, well you are riding him'.

"I didn't know what to think, it's a Group Three riding for someone like Gai and she's shown a lot of faith in me."

Squamosa came up with barrier nine on Thursday in the field of 13.

Todman Stakes winner Masquerader is the topweight (58kg) from barrier six but is still not a definite starter according to his trainer David Payne.

Squamosa has been ultra-impressive in his two starts yet Spriggs has no doubts the colt has improved again since his dominant three-length win at Randwick on July 24.

"Before I knew I was on him I galloped with him a couple of times and thought he had improved," Spriggs said.

"I said to Nash (Rawiller), `This horse has improved a length or two easy'.

"Hopefully there's a bit of moisture in the ground, which there should be, and he'll be very hard to run down with the 53 kilos on his back."

Both of Squamosa's victories have come on tracks rated heavy (9).

He scored by three lengths on debut in an 1150m 2YO Maiden on the Kensington track then made the step up to Saturday company and was equally impressive when defeating Giresun at Randwick.

While the current heavy (9) rating would suit Squamosa, Payne said the track would need to improve for Masquerader to resume on Saturday.

He said he would wait until race morning to make a final decision on whether he starts.

"If it's a heavy track he won't run," Payne said on Thursday.

"It just depends on the weather. I'm happy with him but I don't want to bust him first-up, he's got a nice campaign ahead of him."