The Dubbo trainer has eight horses in action across three tracks from Friday through to Monday, with a number of those building towards this year's Country Championships series.

Stable star Cardiff will be in action in Friday night's $80,000 Canterbury Night Sprint Series Final (1100m) and will be joined at the city track by Jailbreak.

Both are already considered major Country Championships contenders while Eva's Deel, One Pound and Activation - also heading towards the $150,000 Western Districts heat at Coonamble - will start their preparations at Mudgee on Sunday.

Fast Talking, a Country Championship finalist last year, will then be first-up on Monday at Cowra as he tracks towards this year's $100,000 Wellington Cup.

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Cardiff and Jailbreak will be first-up for the Nestor team, with the former returning to Canterbury having produced an eye-catching win in his heat in late January.

"I think the horse has improved a little," Nestor said.

"He's in good order but he runs into a nice one in the Hawkes' horse.

"There's a different dimension to this compared to the last time as there's three or four really quick horses, where last time he was able to get in front and dictate."

The unbeaten Michael, Wayne, and John Hawkes-trained Najmah was a $2.15 favourite on Thursday while Cardiff was on the second line of betting at $8.

Cardiff cruised to trial win at Dubbo on February 14 and Jailbreak ran home well to finish second on that occasion.

It was Jailbreak's second trial after not racing since September of last year and on Friday he'll line up in the Agency Real Estate Handicap (1250m).

Anthony Cavallo will ride Jailbreak at Canterbury as he is set to pilot him in the March 14 qualifier at Coonamble.

"He's building up really, really well," Nestor said of the four-year-old gelding.

"He's a big character so he's had two fairly hard trials to try and tighten up for the 1250m.

"He's got terrific second-up form and we're aiming at the Country Championships heat and having him peaking that day.

"He's about 85-90 per cent now and he could easily win but his main focus is the Country Championships."

The same goes for Eva's Deel, One Pound and Activation at Mudgee.

Sneak Preview and Fast Talking raced at Mudgee last year before running one-two in the western heat at Coonamble and Nestor is following the same program this time around.

"They're all different types of horses," he said of the trio.

"One Pound will really jump on the bunny while Eva's Deel will get back and run home.

"Activation still does a few things wrong but he's on the up and is probably showing the most of all the runners long-term."

Nestor will also have Prodigal Prince and Artie's Aura race at Mudgee.

Artie's Aura caught the eye when winning on debut at Dubbo Turf Club earlier this month and the smart filly is an outside chance to make the Country Championships Qualifier chance if she wins again on Sunday.

On Monday, Fast Talking will go around in the Ken Andrews Memorial Benchmark 74 Handicap (1375m).

The Wellington Cup on March 28 is his target.

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