There's a number of trainers around the region who might be unable to sleep on Saturday night, most likely due to nerves ahead of the $150,000 Country Championships heat at Coonamble.
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Not Rodney Robb though.
He'll be awake because he'll be in his truck, making the long trek back from the races at Broken Hill to his home at Nyngan.
The iconic outback trainer will is likely to have 10 horses take to the Broken Hill track on the Saturday before contesting Sunday's Western Racing Association Qualifier.
"I'll get back at 1 or 2am and four hours sleep is enough," he said, in his well-known matter-of-fact style.
"And if we have some success at Coonamble I might not even get that much Sunday night."
Robb, one of the real characters of country racing, has nominated four hopes for the feature race on Sunday.
Two of them - Festival Of Light and Supreme Attraction - he considers serious hopes as he chases a first trip to the $500,000 Country Championships Final at Royal Randwick.
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He has been getting closer to that marquee race though.
After not contesting the inaugural series in 2015, Robb had Lord Nick feature in the 2016 heat only to see him finish at the very back of the field.
Jen See See finished 13th of 14 in 2017 but in 2018 he saw Lulu's Destiny finish ninth and Lucienne finished tenth.
Last year he had four chances in the rich qualifier with the best result being Mango Liston's seventh-placed finish.
"I'm probably going in with a little better ammunition than any other year," he said ahead of Sunday.
"I'm quite confident that they should perform to their best and it's just whether their best is good enough."
Sixteen nominations in total were received for the race, with the final field of 14 to be confirmed on Thursday.
Robb doesn't expect Miss Lon, with a benchmark rating of just 48, to make the cut so the mare is more likely to race at Broken Hill.
Festival Of Light and Supreme Attraction are likely to be joined by Ready To Go in the final field.
Both were set for this race months ago, having each had two races back from a spell.
Robb's four nominations were matched by Kody Nestor while Clint Lundholm put forward five chances.
Robb pointed to the Dubbo pair as trainers with higher-rated chances but the stalwart of bush racing has been around long enough to know "the form might suggest they're not a chance but if you're not in the race then you're not a chance".
I'm probably going in with a little better ammunition than any other year.
- Rodney Robb
Nestor's hopes are Fast Talking, who defeated Festival Of Light last start at Mudgee, Highway winners Sneak Preview and Toulon Brook, and Miss Academy.
Lundholm nominated Sipharderson, Dusky Damsel, Adsum, So Good To Me, and Sir Winkle.
Sir Winkle has only had two trials for the Dubbo trainer since making the switch from Kris Lees' stables last year.
The other chances put forward for the qualifier were the Wayne Collison-trained A Krupt Pick, Allan Gibson's California Fox, and Zamali from the Gilgandra stables of Bruce Parker.
"We've all been working to the same thing," Robb said.
"All the trainers who have got nominations have had this race picked out for three months ago and not one has been thinking differently."
Sunday's meeting attracted 210 nominations in total.
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Nick Guthrie
I started working at the Daily Liberal in 2013 and now hold the position of senior journalist. I cover all that's happening in sport in Dubbo and the wider western area and have a passion for doing so. If you've got a story that needs telling, reach out.
I started working at the Daily Liberal in 2013 and now hold the position of senior journalist. I cover all that's happening in sport in Dubbo and the wider western area and have a passion for doing so. If you've got a story that needs telling, reach out.
