Darley swings out talented team hungry for success Top-liner: Safeguard, right, charges to victory at Randwick in April. The colt will resume at Caulfield on Saturday. In the calm before the storm of spring, Darley trainer Peter Snowden went to Newcastle at the weekend, shunning the city for a more relaxed atmosphere. Sanzio fell in as a long-odds-on favourite in front of Darley's head man and the son of Redoute's Choice and Divine Madonna is likely to be seen in Sydney in coming weeks. It was just the tonic for Snowden before testing the likes of Golden Slipper runner-up Sidestep and Safeguard in the late-winter warm-ups for spring. "It was good to get to Newcastle, and we had a winner [Sanzio]," Snowden said. It is different to Sydney and I was able to catch up with a couple of friends and relax. No runners at Randwick allowed Snowden's change of pace, but he will go from walk to gallop this week as a team of Darley three-year-olds full of potential steps out at Caulfield and Rosehill. Sidestep and recent Randwick barrier-trial winner Kuroshio will start their spring campaign in the San Domenico Stakes at Rosehill. Tom Berry, who won last year's Golden Rose for Darley on Epaulette, takes the seat on Sidestep, and Christian Reith rides Kuroshio. Darley's stable rider Kerrin McEvoy will head to Melbourne, where Safeguard will resume in the Vain Stakes, while group 3-winning filly Montsegur returns in the Quezette Stakes alongside Metastasio. "We have a really good team there for the spring and most of them haven't had that much racing, so I think the best is in front of them," Snowden said. I have been very happy with the way they have come on and it is an exciting time, considering what they have done on the track [in the mornings]. We are going to find out a bit more about them in the next month, but the signs are good. Snowden will be able to separate his two classy colts, Sidestep will campaign in Sydney, the Golden Rose as his first big target, while Safeguard will head towards the Coolmore Stud Stakes at Flemington on Derby day. "Sidestep only had the five runs as a two-year-old and showed he is right up with the best of them," Snowden said. He is stronger and will run Saturday then the Run To The Rose and the Golden Rose. Safeguard is more of a sprinter, so we will measure him in his next couple of runs but he has only had the two starts and won them both. Snowden rated Safeguard as potentially his best Golden Slipper hope as a juvenile but a series of setbacks meant he has only raced twice - at Flemington just before Christmas and in the Kindergarten Stakes at Randwick in April. It was a rush to get him to the Kindergarten and I wasn't expecting that much that day because he was only 80 per cent. To win like he did was a sign of a very good horse," Snowden said. The Coolmore is the race for him but we will have to see how he shapes up on Saturday and in the Danehill Stakes in a couple of weeks, which will give us a better indication where he is. Saturday's group excludes Darley's best two-year-old, Guelph, a dual group 1 winner in the Sires' Produce Stakes and Champagne Stakes in the autumn. She will barrier trial at Rosehill on August 20 and target the main fillies' races, including the Flight Stakes and Thousand Guineas.