FORMER Southern District Racing Association (SDRA) Horse of the Year, Zero To Ten, will run his final race at Gundagai on Saturday.
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The 2015 Snake Gully Cup winner will contest Saturday's feature race, the $30,000 Gundagai District Services Club Hair Of The Dog Cup (1800m).
Zero To Ten is now trained by Ben Blay at Muswellbrook but has returned home to Gundagai for his final start.
The 10-year-old is owned by Blay and his parents, Jim Scobie and Kathy Blay.
Zero To Ten returned from an 18-month lay-off in July and has had eight starts for Blay, who is starting out his training career.
He will stay in Gundagai with Scobie after Saturday's run, where he is promised a fitting retirement.
"He'll retire after this run," Blay revealed.
"He's been a brilliant horse for us. Dad said he's coming home, he's not going anywhere so he can have the retirement he deserves.
"He kept me afloat when I was trying to find my way."
His greatest success was his hometown triumph in the 2015 Snake Gully Cup, where he relished the heavy track to score at big odds, with a young Nick Heywood in the saddle.
He also ran fifth the following year behind Greipel.
Zero To Ten ran sixth in the group three Kingston Town Stakes (2000m) at Rosehill in 2016, and ran fourth in the listed Rowley Mile (1600m) at Hawkesbury just a couple of starts before.
In recent times, he has helped Blay kick off his training career.
"We didn't know what to do with him. He sat in the paddock for a while because no one made a decision," Blay explained.
"Then when I started off, Dad said if you're going to train a horse, he's a good one to take to the races. He's very experienced and could teach me how to go to the races.
"Dad said if you can tackle him, you'll tackle anything! But he's been fantastic. He's had a few runs back and ran really well at Taree in a non-TAB race last start."
Blay, who also works for Todd Howlett, would love nothing more than to see Zero To Ten sign off as a winner.
"That's what I'm hoping," he said.
"He's had a few issues but we think we've sorted them out. I just don't know if he's still got that spark...but at Gundagai over 1800 metres anything can happen."
Zero To Ten will head into his final race with 70 starts to his name for nine wins, 11 placings and about $190,000 in earnings.
Bradley Vale, who has ridden Zero To Ten to five of those wins, will reunite with the veteran campaigner for the final time.
As for his retirement plans, Scobie hopes to tackle the Jump Off showjumping series with their beloved Zero To Ten.
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