NSW Breeders Challenge heats aren't far away and Bernie Hewitt hopes one of his leading contenders for the series, College Chapel, can find more of the form he showed to win last year's Bathurst Gold Crown.
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College Chapel goes from the outside gate in this Wednesday's Bling It On Pace (1,730 metres) at Bathurst in a bid to approach the Breeders Challenge series with momentum on his side.
It's been a roller coaster ride for the Mach Three colt since his Group 1 victory.
He was diagnosed with asthma but battled on to finish runner-up in this year's Gold Chalice and has since picked up two wins from his last three starts.
His recent second placing saw him miss out by a head as favourite.
Despite the dramas Georges Plains trainer Hewitt said College Chapel is heading in the right direction.
"We're a lot happier with him now and he seems to be going better. I'm racing him into a bit of match fitness with a few big races coming up," he said.
"He's had issues along the way. We had tests done and found he's asthmatic so he's had treatment for that and unfortunately that's likely to be an ongoing thing, but we can manage it now that we know that's the problem."
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College Chapel starts widest in a small seven-horse field where he will once again race against open-age company, given he's too highly graded for Wednesday night's three-year-old event at Bathurst.
Chris Frisby's Our Uncle Alan, to the direct inside of College Chapel, has the next best form line coming into the race but hasn't taken on the same level of opposition as Hewitt's contender.
"The small field gives me options of working forward or taking it easier with him," Hewitt said.
"He's just got to get this fitness into him but obviously they're all out there and it won't be easy to win. There's always two or three really good horses in every race he's lined up in.
"I'm pretty confident with him. His work's been good and he's got no coughs any more."
Crookwell's Scott Hewitt fields the only non-Bathurst trained contender in the race with Troublesome Dave.
The Flightpath gelding has been racing inconsistently since suffering a fall at Bathurst in October.
Count Montecristo gets the inside start for trainer Anthony Higgs but he's going to need a big lift in form to break has length run of mid-field finishes.
Billy Braveheart (Daniel Dwyer), Archachon (Frisby) and Abercrombie Tab (Monica Betts) are the other horses chasing what would be a stunning upset win.
It will be a busy night at Bathurst for Bernie Hewitt who is fielding 12 runners across the eight races.
Racing at Bathurst Paceway begins from 5.14pm.