Ron Stubbs is taking a relaxed approach to Bianco Vilano's Kosciuszko quest

Stubbs appreciates he's able to head to Royal Randwick on Saturday without a great deal of pressure as Bianco Vilano heads into the feature as a $41 chance.

Twelve months ago, Bianco Vilano had won one of his eight starts and was yet to show any huge signs that he was going to be a horse of above average ability.

But in his next preparation, Bianco Vilano went from being a class one horse to winning the SDRA Country Championships Qualifier (1400m).

He won four races for the preparation, including a Highway, and ran fourth in the $500,000 Country Championships Final.

He's returned this preparation with the Kosciuszko as his first-up target and goes in on the back of two trials.

Stubbs isn't feeling any nerves ahead of his first attempt at the $2 million feature.

"I'm not really. We're certainly not going in there overly confident. If you're the underdog it takes a bit of the pressure off doesn't it?" Stubbs said.

"The horse is great. We're going there happy that he's in the best order we can get him in."

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Ever a realist, Stubbs admits there are a couple of question marks even he has on Bianco Vilano heading into Saturday's assignment.

"Realistically, there's two things that worry me," Stubbs said.

"A, you have your top three that have run in listed and group races and won or been very competitive in them, which we haven't.

"And secondly and probably more importantly, from a handicapping perspective, we meet Front Page, he gives us two kilos (on Saturday) but if we had of been in just a normal handicap race he would be giving us something like 13 kilos.

"We rate him as a progressive horse and up-and-coming but the ones that have been there and done that have proven they can do it.

"I'd love to be going into the race second or third up but I think it would be a disadvantage over 1200 if we did that."

Stubbs admits that 1200m is not Bianco Vilano's most effective distance.

"I don't regard him as a true 1200 metre horse and that's the reason he's going in first-up," he explained.

"We didn't want to give him a run or two and take the edge off him. We thought we would try the fresh approach.

"Ideally I'd like it to be a 1400 metre race and he could have a run or two and get that gauge but where he's at, I'm happy with where he's at, but there is still the element of the unknown which applies to any horse first-up I guess."

Stubbs has not set any expectations for Bianco Vilano on Saturday. So long as he sees him attack the line and be competitive, he'll be happy.

"His strength is his finish," he said.

"He can turn a race around in two or three strides really.

"Whether he can do it on Saturday's tempo, we don't know.

"I would just like to see him hitting the line strongly and if we're at the tail end of the placegetters we would be rapt and if we're midfield I'd be more than happy."

Craig Williams takes the ride on Saturday. He has the benefit of having trialled Bianco Vilano for his latest effort at Benalla, which was a significant improvement from his first hit-out over 800m at Wodonga.

"Trial one wasn't a concern. That was basically his first gallop and the instructions to the rider was just sit on him, don't ask him to do anything. Just let him go around," Stubbs explained.

"Then obviously he improved in fitness from one to two and we were just so happy that Craig Williams could have a sit on him. It couldn't have worked out better in that respect.

"We were happy with the trial, he trialled well and the time was indicative of a good trial so it lined up perfectly.

"Craig thought he was ready to go so we've just been ticking him over since then."

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