BEN Settree doesn't want to be racing for second place in this Wednesday night's TAB Western Region Championships Heat at Bathurst Paceway but he knows a bit of luck will be needed to stop one of the series favourites.
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Settree's in-form Kanena Provlima has landed the dream inside draw for the last of the night's heats but to his outside sits Amanda Turnbull's Shoobee Doo, who has to be considering one of the leading chances for the upcoming $100,000 final.
Only the winners of each heat will be guaranteed a place in the Group 1 decider while connections of the runners-up will have to cross their fingers that their horse was one of the next fastest home.
Kanena Provlima shapes up as one of the better chances of stopping Turnbull's heavy favourite, given his excellent build up to this series.
The A Rocknroll Dance gelding has won three of his past five runs and came within a metre of adding a four win streak into that form line.
"He's returned well from his spell. We had this race in mind for a long time. Running into someone like Shoobee Doo makes it awfully hard because only winners are guaranteed to go through," Settree said.
"Shoobee Doo is a really nice horse on the up. We're going to have to be on the top of our game and if he makes any mistakes then we'll be right there ready to pounce."
Shoobee Doo has missed out in his past outings in major events, such as the Simpson Memorial plus the 2YO Breeders Challenge and Gold Chalice finals, but this could be the event in which he breaks through.
He is on the up and he is an extremely consistent customer.
- Ben Settree
He's gone three from four this preparation, only missing out in the Honouree Stakes Final, and was superb last start when winning in a 1:55.4 mile rate after putting in early work to reach the death seat.
"Amanda will want to lead and we'll be sitting on the back, smoking our pipe, waiting for an opportunity," Settree said.
"We're really happy with our guy. He's very lightly raced. From back in October last year we had the Million Dollar Pace in mind, and we set out with a program in mind to qualify him for that.
"He managed to qualify under those original conditions but then COVID-19 came along and the race was completely remodelled. It will be a hard race to win but he is on the up and he is an extremely consistent customer."
The Regional Championships (of which four are held across the state) still retain much of the original conditions of the original Million Dollar Pace.
Horses up to a national rating of 70 are eligible for the race, as long as they've been trained in NSW since the start of the year, and preference will go to those runners in the 60-70 rating range.
Four heats for the western edition will be held at Bathurst on Wednesday night, to be run over the 1,730m.
The heat gets underway from 6.14pm.