NATHAN Turnbull is hunting for a victory at Bathurst Paceway on Wednesday night and his mare Folk Art shapes up as one of the best chances to make that happen.
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Folk Art, driven by Turnbull, goes out from gate four in the Tab.com.au Championship Heat 1 (2,260 metres) where she searches for her first home track top three result.
In a race that was formerly a Canola Cup heat – until that finals’ cancellation – there’s plenty of talent for a C0 grade event, one where Turnbull’s runner has the ability to upset her more fancied opponents.
Folk Art has taken a month away from racing, with her last start being a second place result at Young.
Turnbull said his four-year-old mare has the potential to build upon the promising season gone by.
“She came to me as a three-year-old and we thought we’d try and get her to win one of those three-year-old races, which we managed to do, then thought we’d have a shot at the Canola Cup with her,” he said.
“Her last start she was sitting behind the leader and didn’t get a clear run until late in the race, so that was an encouraging run.
“She has her days and can be pretty temperamental. She sometimes kicks out when she’s around other horses but I’ve had her out in the paddock and she looks ready for this.”
Turnbull said there’s a bunch of great contenders lining up for the race.
“I think the ones either side of me look really good. Bernie’s one inside [Lethal Promise] ran really well at Menangle last start and Anthony’s horse [Alpha Styx] has been in excellent form,” he said.
“We’re all there next to each other so it’s going to be a good race. That extra distance will help sort everyone out. You’ve got to be careful not to go out there too hard because you can leave yourself with no petrol in the tank at the end.”
Folk Art boasts a single career victory which came at Parkes back in July this year and also happened to be her last start beyond the 2,000m mark.
It’s a busy night for Turnbull who has seven runners spread over six different races on his home track.
Wednesday night’s action marks the first of four Bathurst meetings in the space of a single week, with the opening race getting underway from 6.05pm.
Bathurst’s long run of racing action continues on Friday, Monday and the following Wednesday..