The effort Peter Moody wanted to see was delivered last start by the classy import Manighar.

Now the trainer is looking for the real thing at Randwick on Saturday.

Manighar finished fourth, less than 1-1/2 lengths behind the star colt Pierro in the Ryder Stakes at Rosehill, erasing memories of a couple of nondescript runs at his first two outings this time in.

"The trouble was he had no residual fitness coming into this prep after missing most of last spring," Moody said.

"I've had to race him into fitness."

Manighar's spring was cut short by an operation to remove bone chips, but he is now back onto a similar program to this time last year when he won three of the Australia's best middle-distance races - the Australian Cup, the Ranvet Stakes and the BMW.

The former English-trained galloper who had run so well in two Melbourne and two Caulfield Cups then finished a luckless second to More Joyous in the Group One Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

Manighar will step back up to 2000m in the same race on Saturday where the 12 entries include ATC Derby winner and the successor to the title of Australasia's best horse, It's a Dundeel.

Moody acknowledges this year's Queen Elizabeth is at least as tough as last year's, but it will still provide a useful guide to a winter in Brisbane for the seven-year-old.

Manighar's likely Brisbane target is the Group One Doomben Cup, a race in which he finished third last year.