LEADING Wagga trainer Trevor Sutherland believes the same recipe can deliver a second straight straight victory in Friday's Lockhart Picnics feature race.
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Starting from barrier nine last year, jockey Jody Hughes sent Tearful Kitty straight to the front in the $6500 Lockhart Ex-Servicemens Verandah Town Cup (1400m) and held off odds-on favourite Cryfowl to claim the winner's cheque.
Sutherland-Hughes runner Oh What A Thief also saluted in the $5000 NAB Open Trophy Handicap (930m), but the stable won't field a runner in the main sprint race of the day.
Despite a minor setback in the lead-up, Sutherland was pleased with her performance when the six-year-old mare finished seventh at Dubbo on September 15.
"I'm very happy with her, the run at Dubbo just topped her off," Sutherland said.
"We just got held up a bit with her in the lead-in to Dubbo, so it was nice to get that out of the way and everything's on track now.
"She just kicked her back leg. She didn't miss any work, but just didn't quite do as much as we wanted her to.
"She ran well (at Dubbo). They went quick and she was a bit wide, but she should go alright."
Tearful Kitty was a $4.60 chance last year and Sutherlands expects her to be somewhere around that mark again.
He nominated Canberra trainer Doug Gorrel's runner Southern Gamble, who finished fifth in his last run at Grenfell on Saturday as one of the major threats.
Tearful Kitty has drawn barrier four which Sutherland believes is ideal and will give Hughes a variety of options.
"That barrier will give her time to get her legs. They always go hard out of it but from barrier four you can take your time," he said.
"We'll be up front or in the one-one, we should get a good run out of the four either way.
"If she breaks well Jodes will go forward, and if something else goes forward we'll roll along a bit and see where she ends up.
"Jody works for us so she's here at the stable all the time, she knows the mare and rides her in work. That relationship is always a bonus.
"She's racing at a track she usually runs well at and she's on the up, whereas some of the others in the race may have peaked before."
Sutherland also considers Our Romeo a big chance in the $3500 Kelaher Family Reunion Class B Handicap (1200m), and Peduzzi in the Friedlieb Fox McLeod Solicitors and Delta Agribusiness Class B Handicap (1400m).
The first race of the meeting is set for 1.30pm, with the Open Trophy Handicap at 3.40pm and the Verandah Town Cup at 4.15pm.
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