The Dubbo slot winner has had a busy few days after it was confirmed late last week Victorem, the two-time Kosciuszko placegetter and Harper's initial choice for the October 16 feature event, would be out for some time after suffering a fractured pelvis.

On Wednesday morning it was confirmed Harper and close mate Warren Watts - the pair had spent $250 together on Kosciuszko tickets - had settled on Brett Cavanough's hugely promising Patino Ruby.

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A four-year-old mare by More Than Ready, Patino Ruby has a Rosehill victory among three career wins from seven starts for the leading Scone trainer.

"We had a looked at a few horses which had had more runs," Harper said.

"She's won three from seven so we're taking her on potential a bit. Some of the older ones you compare her to might have won four or five from 25 or 30.

"You're just hoping there's some upside with her being young and she might be on the way up.

"And he (Cavanough) trained the winner last year (with It's Me) so he knows how to get one ready for the race.

"That was our thinking after a lot of racking our brains. There was a lot to look at."

The beauty of the Kosciuszko is winning slot holders can still be a part of the race even if their chosen horse suffers an injury or is ruled out for any reason in the lead-up.

While the excitement of winning one of just 14 slots for the richest race in the world for country-trained horses hasn't faded in recent weeks, Harper admitted it was tough to hear Victorem had suffered such a serious injury.

A group level runner trained at Port Macquarie by Jenny Graham, Victorem is expected to make a full recovering after the fracture was found early.

"We thought we had one of the right horses for it at that point and you're disappointed to miss out but it's sad for the people who own the horse to have a fracture like that," Harper said.

"It's more disappointing for them than us but at least they found out in time for the horse to get over it.

"It's still a bit of a lottery but you've got to be in it to win it."

Choosing a horse this time around was much more difficult for Harper and Watts.

The bulk of the gallopers at the top of the market had already been snapped up but Harper and Watts took their time in recent days and spoke to a number of bush trainers.

The delight in choosing a horse on Wednesday was matched by the news fans are going to be allowed to attend Royal Randwick racecourse on October 16.

That weekend is expected to be the first with eased restrictions as NSW is set to reach the target of 80 per cent double vaccination rates in the coming days and things will then open up from October 11.

"We're hoping we can go to the race now with some friends," Harper said.

"They're talking about ending lockdown on the 11^th and we're all double vaccinated and they were talking about letting 5000 people go."

Harper said he was unsure at this stage if there was any plans to trial or race Patino Ruby before the Kosciuszko on October 16.

Cavanough's hope last raced on September 4 when she ran fourth in a mares-only benchmark 78 event over 1100m at Randwick after a 10-week let-up.

Spirinac, who was also chosen for the Kosciuszko this week, ran sixth in that event.

Prior to that result, Patino Ruby had recorded a win and a second during three successive starts at Rosehill.

Patino Ruby was a $13 chance for the Kosciuszko on Wednesday.

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