It was roughly this time last year when Kody Nestor and his team had a list of about a dozen horses which were to target the 2021 Country Championships series.
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As is the way in racing, some horses don't become suitable for certain events as they develop, some fail to live up to potential, and injuries can become an issue but Nestor and is team is "tickled pink" to have four strong chances nominated for Sunday's $150,000 Country Championships Qualifier at Coonamble.
After finishing first and second in last year's qualifier and taking the two tickets to the $500,000 final at Randwick, the Dubbo trainer is well-placed to repeat the effort.
An initial 14 nominations for the heat were released on Tuesday, with Nestor represented by Jailbreak, Activation, Eva's Deel, and One Pound.
"This has been set for a long time and I'm a mad programmer and like to identify early which can be good for which event," Nestor said.
"The four we've got are perfect for it ... we're tickled pink with everything. It's been a good build-up and we're lucky we've got the right horses. Well, we'll find out on Sunday if they're the right horses."
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Nestor admitted Jailbreak is the "top seed" for the qualifier.
The four-year-old has five wins from 16 career starts and returned from a spell last month with an eye-catching win at Canterbury.
"He came back and showed more maturity and that he's gone to that next level," Nestor said.
"They're all good chances ... Eva's Deel, One Pound and Activation all have the runs on the board."
Each of the four hopes should be peaking come Sunday and that's exactly what Nestor wants.
While the trainer may be relaxed and laidback much of the time, a huge amount of work goes into having horses primed for a race like this and all those within Nestor's big team have played their part.
"I think you've really got to train the horses as individuals, as much as I'd love to have them all on the same preparation," he said.
"I'm pretty intense when it comes to work and the staff react to that well. There's a great team and we cross all the t's and dot all the i's. It comes down to those one per centers, just like it does for any football team.
"We put ourselves under a bit of pressure to get the results but if you put the work in the pressure's not as much. If you go to bed knowing you've done all you can then it's just up to the horses."
Nestor is the most well-represented trainer among the nominations for Sunday's event, while Nyngan's Brett Robb put forward three chances.
Robb nominated the promising Great Buy, Messy Miss and Skullharderson while Dubbo's Clint Lundholm has King's Champ and Matter Of Factor in the mix and Narromine trainer Kyle Kennedy put forward the in-form Wild Rocket and Wilburglen
Leo Harland's Patrick May, the Bryan Dixon-trained Feeling Groovy, and Sue's Girlfriend from the Narromine stables of Wayne Collison rounded out the hopefuls, however, nominations were extended through to 11am on Wednesday to give others the chance to push for the rich series.
"I think it's the greatest thing I've seen Racing NSW do for the bush because there's a few restrictions and that means everyone gets a chance to go in it," Nestor added.
There were 190 nominations in total for Sunday's bumper nine-race showcase meeting.
Final fields are released on Thursday.
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.
