The Dubbo region will be well represented this Saturday in the Newhaven Park Country Championships final.
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Activation trained by Kody Nestor of Dubbo and Wild Rocket trained by Narromine's Kylie Kennedy will both run in the $500,000 race after finishing in the top two at the region qualifier in Coonamble last month.
After winning the Coonamble race, Activation ($14) is in with a real chance and Nestor feels that preparation for the race has been nothing but good.
"Preparation has been good, he's probably going to Sydney in good order, the week extra between runs hasn't hurt him one bit." he said.
"It's probably played into his hands a bit more, we would like to see the track get back into a soft range instead of a heavy but other than that I can't fault the horse."
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The Country Championships final was scheduled to be run last weekend but due to heavy rain cancelling a meeting last month, it was moved to Saturday.
After coming home strong in Coonamble, Nestor expects much of the same again on Saturday.
"That's his pattern, he will get back out the backdoor again and the barrier doesn't factor in the pattern of his racing style and he will go back get to the outside and swoop home." he said
"Hopefully there is a bit of pace in the race which will allow him to finish off."
Ben Looker will ride Activation again and Nestor has nothing but praise for the jockey.
"Benny has always been a good jockey, he has one a Country Champs final before so he has had the experience there and he has a sit on the horse now which is a big advantage there." he said.
"He's a nice balance rider and has good patience so he really suits this horse down to the ground."
Kennedy's Wild Rocket ($61) performed strongly at Coonamble to narrowly finish ahead of Nestor's Jailbreak which many tipped to be running in the final but it has been named as an emergency.
Art Cadeu ($2.80) is the heavy favourite coming off three wins in the last four starts for the Terry Robinson trained gelding.
The race is the third of the day and will jump at 12:45.
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