Under the guidance of last year’s championship winning trainer Jenny Graham – she won the $500,000 final with Victorem in 2018 – Awesome Pluck battled to find a clear run and when Robert Thompson eventually found that it was a touch late.

The $1.40 favourite finished third behind a pair of Taree trained gallopers, Lucciola Belle springing the upset of the championships so far with outsider Texas Storm snatching second in the $150,000 heat, run over 1200 metres.

Awesome Pluck qualifies as a MNCRA emergency but will be gunning for his own slot in the final via the wildcard at Muswellbrook.

Trainer Wayne Wilkes said Lucciola Belle has continued to improve this preparation and the Qualifier win backed up her victory in Port Macquarie’s feature mares race the Queen Of The North.

“I’m extremely proud of her,’’ Wilkes said.

“Gibbo rode her a treat, she got shuffled back early and he just stuck to the fence, prayed for a few gaps and he got them and she finished like a bonny mare.

“She’s come back this preparation much bigger and stronger and on the improve all the time. Now we have to sit down with the owners and work out where we go with her.’’

The connections of Lucciola Bell and Texas Storm join Dubbo’s Darren Hyde (Westlink) and Clint Lundholm (Sons Of Bourke) in the $500,000 Newhaven Park Country Championships Final (1400m) on April 6. 

The next Country Championships Qualifier is held over 1400m at Albury on Saturday. The Central District Racing Association heat at Mudgee is on March 3.