Que Pasa goes from outback Northern Territory to $150,000 Country Championships Qualifier at Dubbo

The veteran trainer, based at Warren, had targeted the series with his promising gelding Cadman.

With five wins under his belt, the five-year-old was primed for a crack at the rich series.

But in a trip to Warwick Farm, Cadman “played up” behind the gates and was a late scratching and he then came home lame and was sent out in to the paddock.

But that hasn’t stopped Rumble from taking part and he nominated Que Pasa and Olivares for the $150,000 feature.

Olivares in second emergency but Que Pasa made the final field, in somewhat of a surprise for Rumble.

Even up until early this week the Championships had barely featured on the trainer’s radar but with the level of horses in this region not up to the same as others, he tried his luck.

“He (Que Pasa) was never headed for this,” Rumble said.

“I didn’t expect him to get a start.”

Que Pasa, to be ridden by Anthony Cavallo, is one of a number of horses in Sunday’s heat which has done a huge amount of travel in the lead-up to this race.

Few other horses in the entire Country Championships would have seen as much of Australia as the likes of Que Pasa and the Rodney Robb-trained Lulu’s Destiny.

Que Pasa has had just one start this preparation, running eighth in a class 1 event at Dubbo in early February.

But last preparation included a win on the red earth of the Alice Springs track.

Previously trained by John O’Shea, the run at Dubbo last month was the first time Rumble had raced Que Pasa in NSW.

Prior to that he had seven starts at the Darwin and Alice Springs tracks.

The Robb-trained Lulu’s Destiny has also been all over the country, having raced at Wyndham and Kununurra in Western Australia.

Lulu’s Destiny has six wins and two placings from 12 starts, with two of those wins and one second being recorded over 1400m. That is the distance the heat on Sunday will be raced over.

Robb’s other hope is Lucienne, a mare with with three wins from 20 starts.