The market for the richest race in Australia for country-trained horses was released earlier this week and Cardiff sits on the fifth line of betting at $15.

Tickets for a slot in the race went on sale on Thursday and those lucky enough to secure one of the 14 can choose which horse they want in the October 14 race and earn a share in the prizemoney.

Nestor has already received some enquiries about Cardiff, who is working his way back towards the track after heading to paddock following a win at Doomben on April 24.

"It's an exciting time of the year. I'd like to think a horse like Cardiff has the right profile for it," the Dubbo trainer said.

"He's won metro races and been competitive at group level, so he's the number one seed from my stable.

"We've really planned this preparation around the Kosciuszko, so he's back in work and midway through his initial part of prep.

"The next six-to-eight weeks he'll step up into a trial and we'll see how he goes and ramp it up from there."

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If Nestor is lucky enough to land a spot in the rich event at Royal Randwick, it will be reward for months of planning.

That forward thinking is something he and and his stable take great pride in, and has led to success in two Country Championships series, Highway events, and numerous country feature races.

"Our stable has been big on planning and getting preparations right for big meetings," he said.

"It's good to have everyone in the stable know what path we're on and the owners are onboard, so it's up to us to get the right preparation into the horse and if he's good enough on the day then he's good enough."

While Cardiff is Nestor's leading contender there are a number of other gallopers in his stable with an outside chance of a Kosciuszko spot.

Jailbreak is the most obvious other hope, having won in Sydney previously while he finished a strong third in the highly-regarded Wagga Town Plate in May.

Jailbreak was a $26 chance in the opening market while stablemates Golden Gorge and Vital Verse were at $51 and Artie's Aura and What The Fuss were at $101.

Artie's Aura is one of the more interesting chances, having had just the two career starts but she caught the eye when winning on debut over 1200m at Dubbo in February.

"She's probably the next one if comes out and goes bang," Nestor said of the lightly-raced filly.

"Golden Gorge, even. Artie's Aura is probably a little behind, only had two starts, but if she wins a city race and impresses she could stamp herself a contender as well."

Much of the focus remains on Cardiff though, and after five weeks in the paddock after his win at Doomben he's been put back into work.

A trial looms in the near future and a second one will follow before Nestor decides to give the four-year-old son of Snitzel one or two starts before a potential place in the Kosciuszko.

"He's definitely a horse they'll be talking about but my job is to plot his preparation the right way so he's really turning heads at the right time, when tickets are going to be picked. If we can get him in the race we'll get him in as good order as we can," Nestor said.

"I didn't give him a hard prep last time because he did a lot of travel. He only had four starts and that culminated in two metro wins, one in Doomben and one in Sydney, so he did a great job.

"I'd like to think he went out with a little juice left in the tank so when he's come back in he's got a bit to work with, but I'd like to think he's the right type of horse for the race."

While there's long-term goals, in the short-term Nestor has chances in at Warren and Gunnedah on Tuesday while newcomer to the stables Chestnut Scaffa is set to trial at Mudgee on Sunday.

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