The five-year-old has developed into a strong performer and after taking part in this year’s Country Championships he has gone on to win at Bathurst and place in the Parkes Cup.

On Monday at Dubbo Turf Club he will compete in the Reeve Wheeler Memorial Open Handicap (1310m), having not raced since the event at Parkes on May 13.

“He likes Dubbo and he likes the distance and he had a little freshen-up after the Parkes Cup so hopefully he can put the right foot forward,” Van Den Bos said.

Beau Hoffa is now a 65-rated galloper, having been at 59 in the benchmark ratings just over a month ago.

That jump has made it a bit more tricky for Van Den Bos to find a start for her stable favourite, the trainer often faced with either carrying a huge weight in lower rated events or taking on classy city horses.

“It’s gone up so high and it’s hard to get a race because it goes from class 4 to open and there’s not a lot for those in between,” she said.

“It’s a bit of a no man’s land. At 65 he could be carrying the grandstand (in weight) or he can go to open company and then you’ve got to match the distance and it’s a real juggling act. You could go to Sydney but there’s 70-80 (raters) there so you need luck to find a race.”

For now the focus is Dubbo and while Van Den Bos would have loved drawing closer to the inside then barrier 11, she is pleased to have Courtney Van Der Werf in the saddle again.

The apprentice has had two rides on Beau Hoffa for a win and a third, the latter coming at Parkes last start.

“Courtney has ridden him before. She knows the horse and loves him,” Van Den Bos said.

It’s clear Van Den Bos loves her gelding, describing him as a “lovely horse” and “no trouble” to work with but it’s also obvious the trainer isn’t stopping at four wins and six placings from 24 starts.

Mad For Art, beaten by Beau Hoffa at Bathurst, ran second at Gosford during the week while he’s also beaten home the likes of Country Championships finalist Noel’s Gift and country cup specialist Uncle Sugar in recent times.

“There’s definitely a place for him,” the trainer said.

“He’s been up for awhile so he might have a spell soon but he just likes being in the stables.”

Last-start winner Barricade, from the Peter Bloomfield stables at Scone and to be ridden by Greg Ryan, is likely to jump favourite on Monday while Cameron Crockett will race only one of his two acceptors, Sharpe Hussler and Artistic Beauty, but neither was scratched on Sunday morning.

Former Peter Nestor horse Top Magic will make his second start for Clint Lundholm in the event while Connie Greig’s Our Sarastro is likely to set the pace early.

Van Den Bos has third-starter Rock Hustler in action earlier in the day but she said the three-year-old remains a “work in progress”.

Monday’s seven race meeting starts at 1.05pm.