Gai Waterhouse has enjoyed success turning promising New Zealand stayers into Australian stakes performers.

In Saturday's Natski Handicap hopeful Travolta, she has her latest project.

Sixth in last year's New Zealand Derby, Travolta surprised the stable with a first-up win at his first Sydney start in November.

He repeated the effort two runs later and was black-type placed in the Australia Day Cup.

Travolta returns for his second Sydney campaign at Rosehill and the stable has high hopes the Kiwi import can continue to progress through the ranks.

"If you take a line through horses like Tullamore, Herculian Prince and Reuben Percival, they were all better at their second (Australian) preparation," said Waterhouse's stable representative Mark Newnham.

Herculian Prince was a three-time winner in New Zealand and flourished under Waterhouse to win the 2010 Group One Metropolitan Handicap.

Descarado also reached Group One heights with his Caulfield Cup victory in the same year, while both Tullamore and Reuben Percival have won at stakes level.

The Waterhouse stable hopes Travolta can make similar inroads and two recent barrier trial wins have buoyed their optimism.

"His trials have been fantastic and his work has been very good," Newnham said.

"Gai is trying to lift his rating but he's the sort of horse who is capable of training on to a race like the Newcastle Cup or the Metropolitan."

Travolta has never raced on heavy ground although he has been placed on a slow track in New Zealand and his two recent trial victories have come in the wet.

One of five confirmed starters for Waterhouse in the final event on Saturday, Travolta is a $15 chance with the Chris Waller-trained Coup Ay Tee heading betting at $6.