Rocket Tiger will make his first public appearance since Golden Slipper day when he competes in the open trial at Albury on Sunday, after the last race.

It has been a long road back to the track for Rocket Tiger, who has recovered from a hairline fracture to the shoulder.

The group two and three placegetter went on to run a credible 10^th in last year's Golden Slipper, becoming the first Wagga horse to run in the two-year-old feature in the process.

Spackman is happy to have Rocket Tiger back but warned he will be given an easy time of it in the trial, where he will be ridden by Nick Heywood, fresh off last week's victory in the SDRA Country Championships Qualifier on Another One.

"He's going great, going awesome," Spackman said.

"He's showing no signs of any injury or niggle, he's going perfect.

"We're going (to the trial) just to tick the box. We'll get him reassessed after the trial to make sure we're happy with him."

Spackman is yet to pick anything out for Rocket Tiger as he nurses the horse back from injury.

The horse has had to go through a number of vet checks on his way back, and has been ordered to trial by stewards.

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Spackman may yet trial Rocket Tiger again before looking at races such as the $75,000 City Handicap (1175m) at Albury on March 24 on his radar, as well as the $200,000 Wagga Town Plate (1200m) on May 5.

"We'll have a look at another trial with him after Sunday," Spackman said.

"We might then look at a City Handicap or go straight to the Town Plate. I don't know. There are options there for him.

"We've obviously missed the better races for him in Sydney by not nominating. I didn't know where we were at so I didn't bother nominating for a lot of those races.

"I just want to make sure we get him right, then we'll worry about looking for the right race for him."

Owner Noel Penfold, who along with the connections paid the $150,000 late entry fee to get into the Golden Slliper, is delighted to have the horse back.

"I'm over the moon to have him back," Penfold said.

"It's been very frustrating, I suppose, waiting. But there was no point in rushing things if it was going to make it worse. We've given him a fair bit more time than what was recommended and the horse has been to the vets and checked out about five times so he's right to go.

"Home Affairs winning a group one the other day was pretty exciting for us so we'll see how we go."

Home Affairs downed Nature Strip to win the group one Lightning Stakes at Flemington last Saturday, 12 months to the day after he beat Rocket Tiger in the group two Silver Slipper.

Meantime, a field of eight will contest the Barlens City Handicap Preview (1000m) at Albury on Sunday.

Wagga will be represented by the Gary Colvin-trained Kurocaine and George Dimitropoulos' Mouse Almighty, who ran seventh at Canterbury last start.

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