Southern districts trainers are ready and waiting to meet classy opposition in Friday's $50,000 Snake Gully Cup at Gundagai.
Photo by Racing and Sports
The Snake Gully Cup, the richest spring race in the NSW southern districts, has attracted 28 entries including nominations from top Sydney, Victorian and Canberra stables.
Leading trainer Brian Cox, Matthew Dale, Jason Coyle, Neville and Chris Voigt, Nick Olive, Barbara Joseph/Paul Jones, Keith Dryden, Bernie Howlett, Gratz Vella, Rado Boljun and Peter Maher are represented by entries.
The highest rated entry is the Matt Dale-trained Lebrechaun with other notables from stables outside the local region including his stablemate Happy Finish, the Cox-trained pair He's An Angel and Flagstaff, Sebony, Trescorpioni, Capital Commander, Ilringya, Viva Las, Acta Non Verba and Moorings Capital.
However top Wagga, Tumut and Gundagai stables are well represented.
They include the Trevor Sutherland-trained entries Lockmar and My Dear Friend, Wayne Carroll's talented mare Lycra Lass, Gary Colvin's Larrikin Joe and Universal Pack from the Tumut stable of Kerry Weir. Gundagai's leading trainer David Blundell carries the local hopes with Wyora.
Sutherland can play a big hand with the well-performed Sydney winner Lockmar, a new addition to his stable, and My Dear Friend, who gained ballot exemption from the Snake Gully Cup when she won the John Weir Memorial Snake Gully Cup Prelude (1200m) at Tumut on October 29.
"We were looking for a shot at the Snake Gully Cup and we came up with it,” Sutherland said of the mare's win at Tumut when she beat Gary Colvin's entry Larrikin Joe.
My Dear Friend has now won twice from four starts since Sutherland secured the mare from Melbourne Cup winning trainer Mark Kavanagh in September.
Lycra Lass, arguably the best mare in training in Wagga, hasn't raced since June when she ended a highly successful campaign with a deserved metropolitan win at Randwick.
She has had two recent Wagga barrier trials, for a second and a win, to prepare her for a first-up tilt at the Snake Gully Cup.
Prolific winner Universal Pack resumed in the John Weir Memorial at Tumut. The seven-year-old finished sixth but left Kerry Weir satisfied that he had recovered from a fall in the Forbes Cup in August.
"He's had a good preparation for the Snake Gully Cup," Weir said.
"He just needed a good run before hand."
Universal Pack has an excellent record in feature races on the southern districts circuit with wins in last season's Corowa and Tumut Cups as well as the Murrumbidgee Cup at Wagga.
He has won 10 of his 45 starts but this will be his first crack at the Snake Gully Cup.
Gundagai-Adelong Racing Club secretary Len Tozer expects record fields and crowds for the two-day carnival on Friday and Saturday.
