Richards said the gelding would likely take in the group two Sacred Falls Hawke's Bay Guineas (1400m) on October 6, before heading south to the Listed Zacinto Stakes (1600m) at Riccarton on October 27 as the lead-ups to the 2000 Guineas.
"I think the Zacinto is now the form race for three-year-olds for that carnival," Richards said.
Te Akau Racing have established a fine record in the New Zealand 2000 Guineas with four winners of the race in the past decade, but Richards does not believe he will have a significant volume of runners on target for this year's classic.
"We've got Publicist in the South Island who is shaping up well," Richards said. "He's an improving Redoute's Choice colt that we like. He's probably going to be the only colt we'll have there at this stage.
"Sword Of Osman is a gelding and he will also head towards the Karaka Million 3YO Classic (1600m) in January before looking at Australia in the autumn."
Meanwhile, last season's group one New Zealand Derby (2400m) runner-up Mongolianconqueror is another likely to resume at Ruakaka on Saturday.
"We were going to run him at Wanganui on Saturday but the track was heavy and then it improved," Richards said.
"We just thought we'd go to Ruakaka this coming Saturday where he'll run in the Benchmark Rating 82 1400m with an allowance and that'll be a nice place to kick him off.
"Then we'll just have to pick and choose where we head to from there. We've been held up by cancelled trials but the horse is going well. He's taken a little while to come out of the winter and we have taken him quietly but he's on the right path now.
"We've nominated him for all the big races in Australia but we are probably a little bit behind the eight ball, so we've just got to get through Saturday and see how he goes and then finalise some plans from there."
- NZ Racing Desk
