The veteran Nyngan trainer will have Supreme Attraction contest the feature event at Sunday's showcase meeting at Coonamble Jockey Club.

Supreme Attraction is one of only a handful of horses the legend of bush racing still has to his name after winding down much of his racing operation in early 2020.

Many of his horses went to son Brett, who has since moved to Dubbo and developed into a leading bush trainer in his own right.

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Only the Newcastle-based Kris Lees has more than the 52.5 winners scored this season by Brett, who will be out for more success in the Cannonball with A Magic Zariz.

"Brett is going pretty well and that's good to see," Rodney said.

"It was the right move to go to Dubbo. Nyngan is 160km further out ... he's been able to get better horses but there's never been anything wrong with the bush horses we've had."

A Magic Zariz was one of the many gallopers trained by Rodney at one time and he was handed the 61.5kg top weight for Sunday's Cannonball sprint feature.

That weight if offset somewhat by the 3kg claim of apprentice jockey Jake Barrett, while Elissa Meredith will claim two kilos in the saddle of Supreme Attraction.

"You'd rather him (Brett) beating you than someone else and that's happening a bit in the last few months," Rodney said.

As was the plan when he gave up plenty of his horses in 2020, Rodney has done plenty of travelling in recent years.

He took a team of horses to the Northern Territory late last year and spent roughly four months racing at Darwin, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs.

Cannonball contender Supreme Attraction was one of the horses who made the trek north and finished the trip by winning three successive races at Alice Springs.

Regarded by Rodney as one of the best dirt track horses he's ever trained, Supreme Attraction is one of up to nine horses the Nyngan trainer hopes to race at the iconic Birdsville carnival in outback Queensland in September.

He'll be one of the outsiders in Sunday's handy feature field but he has proved himself on turf tracks previously, most notably when finishing an impressive fourth in a Country Championships qualifier at Coonamble in 2020.

"He's a very good dirt track horse. I don't think I've ever had a dirt track horse as good," the trainer said.

"He's never set the world on fire on the turf tracks and I just think on Sunday they might just go too fast for him.

"But you never know. Sometimes when you throw a hood horse out there with other good horses they can lift their game a bit."

Tuscon Valley, trained at Scone by Stephen Jones, will be the one to beat in the Cannonball after a win at Wyong last time out made it three successive victories.

Appalachian and Cassy's Sister from the Tamowrth stables of Sue Grills and Troy O'Neile respectively are also leasing contenders, along with Clint Lundholm's Dubbo hope, Beauchamp.

The other of Rodney's hopes to race at Coonamble on Sunday will be Tintern Power, who is also being set towards Birdsville, and the same goes for veteran Rogue Runner, who will race at Walgett on Saturday.

Having felt some horses were underdone when they first arrived to race at Darwin during his Northern Territory trip last year, Rodney is determined to make sure his team is fit and firing ahead of the Birdsville carnival.

"Supreme Attraction's mission is Birdsville. I'm going back there and he always takes three or four runs to come up and you've got to start somewhere," Rodney said.

"I don't want to make the same mistake I did last year going to Darwin. I want them at Birdsville when they're ready.

"Hopefully both of those will be right for Birdsville. I've got the old horse Rogue Runner racing at Walgett tomorrow (Saturday) and he'll probably have one more run after that and then go to Birdsville too.

"Hopefully we'll take about six or seven to Birdsville. Currently I'm working nine horses and we're aiming them all at Birdsville."

Sunday's showcase meeting will feature eight races and the first will jump at 11.55am.

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