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Last-start winner Wild Chap will bid to give Brett Lazzarini his first Saturday city success of the season.

The decision to help out a friend has led to Brett Lazzarini's second coming as a trainer, more than 25 years after he walked away from the sport. 

Lazzarini did his apprenticeship under Dr Geoff Chapman and Tony Wildman during the late 1970s and early 1980s before taking out a licence in his own right and basing himself at the NSW north coast town of Ballina. 

He spent the best part of a decade training horses, most of his runners competing in Queensland where he was no stranger to success and landed a black-type win with Lost Valley in the 1988 Townsville Cup. 

And then Lazzarini's life changed. 

"We had a family accident and I came to a crossroads and just walked away from it," Lazzarini said. 

"I had 30 horses in work. It was one of those things." 

It was family who helped bring Lazzarini back to the sport. 

When a friend needed a hand with their horses, Lazzarini offered his services and that prompted his son to suggest he dip his toe back into training. 

Since renewing his licence and settling at Kembla Grange, Lazzarini has also picked up the bulk of retired trainer Mick Tubman's team, including Wild Chap, the horse whose positive test to cobalt last year resulted in Tubman's subsequent disqualification. 

"It's been our first year back. It's been quicker than what I thought it would be, we've had 10 winners and 24 placegetters in the first year, so it hasn't been too bad," Lazzarini said. 

Lazzarini will be looking for his first Saturday metropolitan success since his return with Wild Chap, who lines up in the Quayclean Handicap (1500m) at Rosehill. 

A dynamic winner on a wet track at Canterbury early last month, Wild Chap has continued to please his trainer despite being balloted out of a crucial barrier trial at Wyong. 

"It's something they need to look at. There are a lot of horses getting balloted out of trials because of the wet tracks," Lazzarini said. 

"I would have liked to have gotten a trial into him before his race on Saturday. I compensated with his work but there is nothing you can give them that is the same. 

"But in saying that, they will certainly know he's there." 

Wild Chap, a $7.50 chance in early betting, will be ridden by emerging apprentice Tyler Schiller and has drawn barrier 13.