Trainer Stephen Brown is hoping a return to Moonee Valley brings about a change in fortune for Group winning sprinter Sea Lord.

Sea Lord has not won a race since he claimed the Group Two Australia Stakes at Moonee Valley in January last year.

Brown will start Sea Lord in Saturday's 1Print Hcp (1200m) and he is looking for an improved showing from the gelding who finished last in a 1000m sprint at Flemington first-up.

"We're keeping our fingers crossed," Brown said.

"He has worked well. I expected him to run a bit better at Flemington but (jockey) Damian Lane said he got on the back foot when the gates opened and they just ran him off his legs.

"We're just hoping for something a bit better and we're going to pull three kilos off his back and see what happens."

Sea Lord will carry 58kg after the claim of apprentice Josh Cartwright.

Brown said Sea Lord's liking for Moonee Valley, where he has won four of his six starts, was the reason for him heading to Saturday's event.

Sea Lord, who turns seven on Friday, finished fifth in the Australia Stakes in January, his most recent start at the track.

"I'm not expecting him to set the world on fire or anything," Brown said.

"He's been a good horse for us and we have to run him to find out where we are at with him.

"(Stablemate) Canali went ages without winning a race but then won a couple of races last season."

Brown will not be at Moonee Valley as he is in Darwin where he has three runners - Eight Bills, Duke Of Cornwall and Cheville - in Saturday's Palmerston Sprint.

A former top trainer in the Northern Territory before opening a stable at Flemington a couple of years ago, Brown rates Eight Bills as the best chance of his trio.