Young trainer Eden Petrie expects to be either a hero or villain after giving his casting vote in favour of Brad Pengelly to partner spring hopeful Albert The Fat in the Clean Domain Handicap at Doomben on Saturday.Petrie was forced into the difficult decision to choose between Pengelly and last-start rider Damian Browne who won on the five-year-old in his comeback at Eagle Farm on July 18."It was a hard decision as both of them are great riders," Petrie said."We had made a commitment for Brad t

Young trainer Eden Petrie expects to be either a hero or villain after giving his casting vote in favour of Brad Pengelly to partner spring hopeful Albert The Fat in the Clean Domain Handicap at Doomben on Saturday.

Petrie was forced into the difficult decision to choose between Pengelly and last-start rider Damian Browne who won on the five-year-old in his comeback at Eagle Farm on July 18.

"It was a hard decision as both of them are great riders," Petrie said.

"We had made a commitment for Brad to ride Albert The Fat this campaign prior to him resuming last time but unfortunately Brad got suspended and couldn't ride him at Eagle Farm.

"I left it to his connections to decide and there's 10 of them but the vote came back five-all so I had the casting vote.

"Loyalty can sometimes come back to bite you on the arse so I went for Brad. I'm going to be either a hero or a villain after the race on Saturday."

The smoke-toting Petrie is highly superstitious and nervous on race days but is confident Albert The Fat has made further improvement following his impressive victory over Saturday's distance of 1200 metres last start.

"I'll be giving the smokes a hiding, that's for sure, but the horse has to step up to the mark in this if he's to go to Sydney," he said.

"He's improved a lot since he won first-up but there's room for more improvement after this run."

Petrie, who trains a small team at Wadham Park at Canungra in the Gold Coast hinterland, believes the handicapper hasn't done Albert The Fat any favours for his second-up outing.

"He won with 55 kilos last time but he's gone up two and a half kilos in this," Petrie said.

"He's been harshly treated in my opinion."

Petrie is hoping a strong performance from Albert The Fat will confirm a Sydney trip for the spring.

The son of Magic Albert is being directed towards the Listed Show County Handicap (1200m) at Randwick on August 22 before the Group Two Theo Marks Stakes (1400m) at Rosehill on September 12.

"If he measures up in those two races we might take him to Melbourne for the Gilgai and then the Emirates on the last day of the carnival," he said.

Albert The Fat has won eight of his 14 starts but it could have been more had he not lost a number of races through wide barriers and bad luck.

"He's got a great will to win and he's got no respect for himself," Petrie said.

"He's tough, very tough, and he'll run another great race."