Things are “cherry ripe” in the Justin Stanley stables and the trainer is raring to go after nominating four horses for this weekend’s $150,000 Western Racing Association Country Championships Qualifier at Dubbo Turf Club.
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Stanley and his fellow Dubbo trainer Clint Lundholm have both put forward a quartet of chances for the feature event of Sunday’s showcase nine-race meet.
An enormous 185 nominations in total were received for the meeting, with 19 of those for the qualifier.
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The winner and runner-up in that events gains passage through to the $500,000 final at Royal Randwick on April 7.
Stanley has been to Randwick before after Something Borrowed won the 2016 heat at Dubbo.
“The Country Championships is fantastic for bush racing and I was lucky enough to win one on my first try,” Stanley told Racing NSW.
Each of these horses will be cherry ripe for the race.
- Justin Stanley
Stanley shapes as one of the leading contenders in Sunday’s feature after nominating Coming In Hot, Incision, Party Bag and Good Host.
“I have had the qualifier in mind for twelve months and each of these horses will be cherry ripe for the race,” he said.
Lunholm’s four hopefuls are Joey’s Destiny, Dreadlock, Spezzatura and Tuncoona.
Stanley and his fellow trainers aren’t the only ones who have been planning for this weekend for the best part of a year.
Dubbo Turf Club general manager Vince Gordon and his team have been hard at work in the build-up to this weekend’s meeting with a huge amount of renovations and improvements being completed at the track.
“We’re very excited Gordon said.
“It’s going to be great to get out here. There’s a lot to like about the day.
“The Champs has 19 nominations, which is great. It’s going to be a really interesting race.”
While the $150,000 qualifier is the main attraction, the entire meet is set to be quality and competitive.
The showcase stature means each race is worth $30,000 minimum, a $10,000 increase on regular meetings.
The Open Showcase Handicap (1100m) will arguably be the race of the day with Peter Nestor’s Danish Lace headlining things while the likes of Allan Denham’s Cockles, the Scott Thompson-trained Exitozo and Dean Mirfin’s last start winners, Art ‘N’ Ollie and Repentant, were also put forward.
The $40,000 Maiden Showcase Plate (1300m) attracted 29 nominations, the most of any race, while there was 24 for the Class 1 Showcase Handicap (1400m).
“The open handicap is a cracker,” said Gordon.
“The maiden showcase are always popular. It’s for country horses and you won’t get swamped by provincial trainers.”
But all eyes will be on the qualifier, with Nyngan’s Rodney Robb and Merv Rumble of Dubbo nominating two chances each while the other hometown trainers in the running are Connie Greig, Frank Hayes, Darren Hyde and Cindy Monaghan.
Final fields are released Thursday.