The consistent mare is headed for a well-earned spell after an almighty preparation which began in January and consisted of 19 starts.

Not only did the six-year-old keep on going, she kept on performing well too and on Monday went within a whisker of taking out the $45,000 Coonabarabran Cup.

In her 19 starts Playing Game scored four wins while she only missed out on finishing in the places on six occasions.

 “She’s been in for awhile but when they’re in-form you’ve got to keep them going,” Lunn said.

“A mare like that, she’s six years old, if you turn out and she has a spell she might not come back.

“But they tell you when they’ve had enough and she kept going and has had a really good preparation. She’s done really well.”

There has been a number of highlights this preparation, from the real breakout win at Narromine over the likes of Something Borrowed to the classy performance when winning at Warwick Farm in a $40,000 Benchmark 66 event before returning to the west and taking out the Narromine Cup.

“She won in Sydney in August and then backed up to win the Narromine Cup and then she finished second in the Coonamble Cup, third in the Dubbo Cup, second at Moree and then second yesterday (Monday at Coonabarabran) so you can’t fault her form,” Lunn said, before speaking about his plans.

“Probably give her a month off now. She’ll go for a spell and then we’ll get her ready again.

“Now she’s up to about a 80-85 Benchmark so we’ll probably go to town a bit for a couple of mares and filly races there.”

Races are much harder to come by now for Playing Game, because of this run of form.

In her first start this preparation, back at Wellington on January 15, she was rated a Benchmark 66 mare and she failed to set the world on fire when running sixth in a Benchmark 55 event.

But once she got going her form and rating kept getting better and she currently sits with a rating of 80, a rating which saw her start at Coonabarabran as the 57kg top weight in the Cup.

She almost scored career win number 10 there too, as she battled Brilliant Poet for the lead right until the post but she lost in a photo.

“She gave that other horse 5kg in weight,” Lunn said of Brilliant Poet’s 52.5kg. “But the run was really good and that 5kg would have told in the last little but but it was just a bob of the head.”

Lunn also confirmed Not For Export, another who finished second on Monday, would head for a spell too, with the plan to return for a crack at the 2017 Country Championships.