He might not call Coonamble home any more but few people have been as proud to see the town's race course improve so much in recent times as Damien Lane.
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Now a successful city-based trainer, Lane takes any chance he can to head back west and he'll be home on Sunday chasing another Coonamble Cannonball victory.
He most recently won the feature sprint with Kanguru in 2017 and on Sunday he'll saddle up nine-year-old stalwart Johnny Roo Boy in Sunday's 1100m edition.
It's one of five hopes the Wyong trainer has set for the eight-race showcase meeting.
The horses will be sent out on Saturday but Lane will be with his contingent - headlined by Oakfield Twilight - at Randwick that day so he'll make the trip to Coonamble Jockey Club early on Sunday morning.
"I've got a lot of family and friends still there and quite a few have horses with me so I always like to get back and support them when I can," Lane said.
"The Cannonball has been good to us and we've won it before. The cup has always evaded us but another Cannonball would be handy."
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Johnny Roo Boy will be second-up in the event and while his result last time out at Taree doesn't jump off the page his trainer wasn't too disheartened.
Johnny Roo Boy finished 10th when first-up from a 26-week spell there but he was held up for a run after being trapped wide with 60.5kg on his back for much of the journey.
"I would have liked him to do a bit more but I wasn't too disappointed," Lane said.
"But I know he wasn't wound up ... and the soft track [at Coonamble] suits.
"I probably wouldn't send him out if there hadn't been a bit of rain.
"He's won a Kirby [Sir James Kirby Handicap] at the Grafton carnival before. While he's probably past his best he's good enough on his day to win a race like this."
While he knows Johnny Roo Boy has potential Lane highlighted Thiswilldous as his best chance at the showcase meeting.
Thiswilldous was a $5 favourite for the Keady Family and Nalder Family Benchmark 58 Showcase Handicap (1600m) but the question Lane had was how he'd go from the extreme outside gate.
The one thing he does know is there's always a winning chance at the improved Coonamble track.
Plenty of work has gone into the track as well as the club itself and it proved a hugely popular host of the Western Racing Association Country Championships meeting in March.
"The club has really gone forward in the last two years," Lane said.
"I was in Coonamble a couple of weeks ago and I walked the track and, honestly, nearly any track in NSW would be happy to look like that.
"I know there had been no racing on it so it was due to look good but it looked sensational."
Top weight Burning Crown, from the Tamworth stables of Sue Grills, was a $2.90 favourite for the Cannonball on Friday afternoon.
The in-form Kookabaa was on the second line of betting at $4.20 for the in-form Brett Thompson while Clint Lundholm, another Coonamble product, has $5 hope Good Time Charlie primed for the feature.
Johnny Roo Boy was at $41.
The first of eight races at Coonamble jumps at 12.30pm on Sunday.
The Cannonball is the seventh event on the card.
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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.
