Wagga trainer Trevor Sutherland is on the road to Sydney this weekend with a trio of runners to represent the stable in Saturday company at Rosehill.
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Reigning Snake Gully Cup winner My Maher (in the Eden Brae Homes Handicap over 1400m) and veteran Gentleman Max (in The Country Classic over 2000m) will both contest $125,000 races, while last-start winner Two Wrongs Dont gets a shot at back-to-back successes in the $75,000 Highway Handicap.
"They're nice races for them all, so it should be interesting. It's going to be good," Sutherland said.
My Maher hasn't won since her victory in the Gundagai feature last November but has just 52 kilograms and the inside alley in the benchmark 78 event at Rosehill.
"She's pretty hard to place these days but I said to the owners, I think she's about on a level par as when she won the Snake Gully Cup. I couldn't have her any better," Sutherland said.
"She's been struggling carrying the weights, getting heavily penalised after winning the Snake Gully Cup, which is what happens when you win a race like that.
"But she's drawn a gate, that's a big thing. And with 52 kilos and Johnny Grisedale back in the saddle - he knows the mare, she can be a bit tricky - he can ride her cold and hopefully get a soft run."
The six-year-old mare was fifth in the Stan Sadleir Stakes at Wagga last week behind Lady Mironton, carrying 54kg in the 1400m event.
Grisedale will also be legged aboard Gentleman Max for his 108th start.
The seven-year-old won four races in eight weeks on wet tracks in the winter. His spring campaign has seen him just outside the placings in the Griffith, Dubbo and Cootamundra Cups, before finishing third in a midweek benchmark 78 event at Warwick Farm won by Chris Waller's Pancho, which saluted in a listed event at Flemington on Oaks Day this week.
"We reckon we've got him pretty right. He's raced a lot of these horses before. He has won over the distance, and he's looking for the 2000m now," Sutherland said.
The Nick Olive-trained Maid Of Ore is the favourite in The Country Classic. She's coming off four straight wins, a sequence that kicked off at Wagga in late August as an odds-on winner over a mile at Murrumbidgee Turf Club.
In the Highway Handicap, Two Wrongs Dont is coming off a 1600m win at Albury and drops from 59kg to 54.5kg for jockey Blaike McDougall.
While the gelding is chasing a fourth career win at his 20th start, fellow Wagga galloper Takissacod is in search of four in a row for trainer Scott Spackman.
Takissacod has only had six starts but the three-year-old filly is making winning an early habit with successes at Grenfell, Wagga and then Albury in her last three.
Gundagai trainer David Blundell also has Magpie in the Highway Handicap. The four-year-old was runner-up to Takissacod at Albury last start, and finished sixth behind Two Wrongs Dont at Albury earlier in October.
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