The promising juvenile made it two wins from two starts with an ultra-impressive 21-metre victory.

It made the roughly 17-hour return trip across the border with the gelded son of Sebastian K, out of the mare Downtown Miss, certainly worthwhile.

Uptown Lad, again driven confidently by Shepparton reinsman Leigh Sutton, backed up his exciting win on debut at Maryborough on April 15 with a brilliant front-running effort over the mile.

A commanding performance has Van Ryn plotting another trip north for a second heat of the series, with a view to qualifying for the $20,000 final in late June.

The 44-year-old, who is giving training another serious crack after some time away from the sport, explained a combination of ineligibility and meeting and race cancellations in Victoria had prompted him to turn his attention to New South Wales with the promising Uptown Lad.

"We couldn't go to the Homebred series back home as we won that first $20,000 race at Maryborough, which put us over the eligibility for it," he said.

"Then Kilmore (on March 20) got washed out and then the other race we were looking at got deleted.

"So we thought we'd just come up here for the heat and if he travelled well and recovers well, we'll come back for another heat. You need to run in two heats to go into this final.

"If he doesn't travel home well or doesn't recover, we'll just go back for the NSW Breeders Challenge in about eight weeks.

"It will all depend on him. He will need to eat everything up all week, but if he's not feeling good, we'll just pull the pin on it."

With a perfect two-from-two under Uptown Lad's belt, Van Ryn could not be happier with the young trotter's promise

"Some of the things he does at home in track work are pretty good and he always does it so easy," he said.

"But we'll just take it race by race - that's the only way to do it.

"The next heat is next Tuesday, so we'll just play it by ear. If he doesn't go, he doesn't go."

A Menangle win continued a nice patch of form for Van Ryn with three winners from his last eight starts with his small team.

Sutton has taken the reins behind all three winners.

Simulant, who finished ninth at Menangle on Tuesday, has two wins and two placings in six starts since his debut at Melton on May 18.

And the four-year-old trotting gelding Te Amo also boasts a win this season at Echuca in February.

"Simulant's done a pretty good job winning two out of his first five (before Tuesday) - hopefully he's alright," Van Ryn said.

"Depending on how he pulls up, there's nothing set in stone for him.

"Chillin, I haven't been really happy with him, and Te Amo, we've won the one race with, which is one more than I would have thought.

"I also have a couple of two-year-olds, one of which just qualified for the races on Sunday.

"We need more (horses) somehow."

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