Unbeaten Perth galloper Barakey has come through a vital test ahead of his intended Melbourne visit with a comfortable trial win at Belmont Park on Tuesday.
The winner of each of his 11 starts, Barakey toyed with his opposition in a hit-out that satisfied Jim Taylor the five-year-old was ready to follow the trainer's former top-line sprinter Hay List to the eastern states.
Barakey is entered for Australia's most coveted sprint race, the Newmarket Handicap (1200m), but his first target is likely to be the Oakleigh Plate (1100m) at Caulfield on February 23.
The five-year-old who made a relatively late start to racing has raced almost exclusively in Perth where he recorded his latest win in the Group One Winterbottom Stakes in which he beat the stakes performers Spirit Of Boom and Pinwheel.
Should he be successful in Melbourne Barakey would join an illustrious list of WA sprinters to have made their mark in the eastern states.
As well as Hay List, WA has provided such stars as Placid Ark, Miss Andretti and Scenic Blast, the latter two having also won at Royal Ascot.