GULGONG trainer Brett Thompson will be hoping for a change of fortune when he saddles up one of his stable’s most reliable, but luckless, runners in the feature event at Tyers Park this afternoon.

Thompson’s five-year-old mare Domuar Miss will run in the Benchmark 60 Handicap (1800 metres) on the seven-race Bathurst Thoroughbred Racing program, and statistically looks a near certainty to contest the finish.

The daughter of Domesday out of Jaguar Leap has four wins and 10 placings from 24 starts in her career, finishing fourth another five times.

In her previous nine outings she has been no worse than fourth – but hasn’t managed a victory either.

Injury, some questionable rides, and a general lack of good luck have hampered her according to Thompson, and with Mathew Cahill taking the reins today he hopes the winning drought, dating back to October 2012, will end.

“I really think she will run a big race here, I would have preferred her to have a hit at 1600m, but it is so hard in the bush to find the right race, you wait a couple of weeks for a 1600m race and suddenly she’s behind in her work,” Thompson said.

“She is carrying 59.5 kilos, so that is going to test her over that distance, but I was very happy with her last run even though she was a bit dour and got back a bit. I hope she’ll jump on the bunny this time and get forward.

“She has won at Bathurst before and generally raced well there, and Matty [Cahill] knows what he’s doing, so I like her chances of running a big race.

“I think all that has stopped her doing a little better in those placings was some ordinary rides, and there was another race at Bathurst where Winona Costin took her to the lead but got challenged pretty hard.

“She stayed at the front, the other horse dropped right out of it, but we ended up getting beaten a nose.”

Thompson went on to explain that an injury to a sensory ligament after a race at Warren a little over a year ago almost ended her career.

Since returning via a couple of trial wins in August she has managed a fourth at Coonamble and third at Coonabarabran before being given six weeks to freshen up.

She comes into today’s race off a third at Dubbo on December 8.

Of her rivals, the likely favourite could be Hawkesbury trainer Connie Greig’s Bee Plus who won last start at Dubbo and was second in her race prior at Orange.

“These races are always hard to win no matter who you’re up against, and I watched Connie’s horse win that day in Dubbo, it was a very impressive run,” Thompson said.

“It came to her stable and hadn’t done a lot, but she’s got it running pretty well.

“So long as we’re out there running our own race I’m sure we’ll figure in the finish, it will just come down to whether she can handle the weight over that sort of distance.”

Today’s meeting starts at 1.58pm with the Benchmark 60 Handicap to jump at 3.08pm.