IT is a race several Central West trainers have been eyeing off for months and there is every possibility the winner will have Mudgee or Gulgong connections.
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Tomorrow’s $100,000 Country Champion-ships qualifier (1,400m) at Bathurst’s Tyers Park will pit some of the region’s best horses and trainers against each other for a chance to race in a $300,000 state final at Royal Randwick in April.
Seven of the 14 horses accepted to run in the Bathurst Thoroughbred Racing qualifier will have Mudgee or Gulgong connections.
One of those seven is Gulgong and Mark Milton-trained Sooner Or Later.
Second up from a 19-week spell, the five-year-old bay gelding is expected to “rattle” a few of the predicted front-runners.
Sooner Or Later was first up over 1,300m at Orange a fortnight ago and ran on to place two lengths behind the much-fancied King Derota, who will carry equal top weight tomorrow. Milton liked what he saw from his chance.
“He was 10th at the 400 metres and came from behind to finish fourth,” he said.
“He likes to relax before rattling his way to the front. I expect him to do the same on Sunday, but we don’t want him near last before it’s too late.
“I don’t think he’ll have second up syndrome. When we ran him second up before, he placed second at Scone.”
Milton said he was excited by the prospect of competing for the Country Championships.
“It’s obviously a great thing for country trainers to be invited for an opportunity to race in the city,” he said.
“We’ve had similar races in the country before, but city horses come up and win them. This time it’s country trainers racing between themselves.
“Every man and his dog has been looking towards this race.”
Fellow Gulgong trainer Brett Thompson has accepted three runners for the race: Iwilldoit, Apistanna and One Last Poet.
He made the decision to run Apistanna after the three-year-old pulled up well from his third-place run at Scone on Monday.
Mudgee trainer Mack Griffith, who recently relocated from Muswellbrook to work at Gooree Stud, has accepted Binalong Road.
Binalong Road was a last-start winner on Mudgee Cup day in December, beating Vortuka, owned by a Mudgee syndicate, by a head.
Trained at Orange by Jeff Brasch, Vortuka is another in tomorrow’s field.
Also in contention for Bathurst’s Country Championships qualifier is the Coolah and Derek Piper-trained What a Racquet. The four-year-old bay mare is another last-start winner after collecting a 1,400m Class 3 race at Coonabarabran last Saturday.
