And they hope it won't stop Taikomochi in the $170,000 feature.

The five-year-old gelding won on a heavy 10 at Rosehill two starts back, over the Cup distance (2000m) in group three company, the $161,000 Neville Sellwood Stakes.

While the stable has scratched its two other runners at Wagga on Friday, Taikomochi is making the trip.

"Yeah mate, definitely. It looks a lovely race for him so he'll be there, even if the rains come," Bott said on Thursday afternoon.

"The rain may even work into his favour, taking a line through his form on the wet this preparation. I don't think that's going to pose a problem for him.

"He's going down in great shape."

Bott said the win in the wet at Rosehill was in a race run to suit Taikomochi.

But it proved he could handle the conditions, and came after a second in the listed Canberra Cup and was followed with a fourth in the group three JRA Cup, both also over 2000m.

"The Canberra Cup was a steep step up in class for him. He was well and truly open to improvement off that run, so for him to run as well as he did, we were confident with him going forward for the remainder of the campaign and it was great to see him to pick off the Neville Sellwood," Bott said.

"He probably got all the favours on that occasion but he went up sharply in the ratings for that performance."

Adam Hyeronimus will ride Taikomochi, which has drawn barrier five and is a $7.50 chance with the TAB.

The son of Snitzel has only had 14 career starts (for four wins, two seconds, and a third) and is only four runs back from a 33-week spell to overcome a hoof issue last autumn. This campaign began with a second in a benchmark 76 at Randwick in February.

"He has progressed a long way in a short period of time this campaign but it does look a really nice race for him. Obviously it's the carnival and we like to try and target that with the right horse and we feel he's that sort of profile."

Busy schedules will prevent Bott and Waterhouse from attending but stable representative Neil Paine will be back, hoping to emulate their success of 2017 with Stampede (under jockey Rachel King).

Bott, a country boy from Scone, hopes to fit in a trip to Wagga one year.

"I would love to get down there because I've heard nothing but fantastic reports on how well the carnival is done and, of country racing, I've certainly heard it's one of the better carnivals and is a must on the calendar," he said. "It's been a good race to us and hopefully we've got the right horse coming down again."

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