Joshua Dickie would not tip out Scarrymcleary to his friends just yet.
But he is getting more confident with the former pacer making his way as a trotter, continuing with a race at Alexandra Park tonight.
Dickie is willing to give the winner of 13 pacing races as much time as he needs to find his feet, which means keeping the gelding to mobile starts only.
That theory came slightly undone at Alexandra Park last week when Scarry-mcleary started pacing in the score-up - but Dickie is happy to cop his share of the blame for that.
''He did pace behind the gate,'' Dickie said.
''I was trying to be too nice to him and give him too much room and he just tried to go a bit too quick for himself.''
Scarrymcleary was 40m off the field at the start, but recovered to run an impressive fourth.
''He's never gone into a pace and then come back to me before but he did that the other night so that was a bonus,'' Dickie said.
''We've tried all sorts of things like weight around his feet. But I wouldn't persevere if he wasn't good enough. When you drive him, he gives you the impression he could trot through the grades if he did everything right.''
Tonight's 1700m mobile trot should be a good measuring stick for Dickie, as he takes on last-start winner BD Love and the in-form Alannah Hall.
''I was a bit disappointed last week that [the break] happened, because I was looking forward to seeing what he could do against those better trotters.''
Bronze Over (race 1) should be much better for her second on debut last week, and has an inside draw compared to her main rival Killer Queen.
''She hung a bit around the last corner which She's a pretty easy-going filly. She doesn't have great gate speed which is her only issue, but she does feel like she can do a bit of work.''
Barabbas has a tricky draw of 8 to overcome in race 2, while Dickie considers La Maitre Dix (race 3) a place chance at best.
Kippenberger gets a 10m head start on some smart pacers in the feature pace and Dickie expects the 6yr-old to be running on.
Speeding Spur, the 3yr-old star for Dickie and his father, John, was due to start jogging yesterday ahead of a busy two months.
The dual Derby winner will contest a Breeders Crown heat at Cambridge on July 9 before flying to Melbourne for a mobile trot at Melton on July 25 - a week before his main goal, the Victoria Trotters Derby.
Meanwhile, the New Zealand TAB has opened Christen Me as a $3 favourite in an early market for November's New Zealand Trotting Cup.
Sky Major, Beautide and Smolda (all at $6.50) are the only other runners in single figures.
