Wagga trainer Gary Colvin believes Tully Toff will need luck on his side if he is to be in the finish of Saturday's $150,000 SDRA Country Championships Qualifier (1400m).
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Tully Toff has drawn barrier 17 and apprentice jockey Lachlan King will have just two horses to his outside when they jump in the feature at Albury.
Tully Toff has flown under the radar in preparation to this year's race, having two quiet trials leading into a first-up assault on the race.
Colvin is happy with Tully Toff but disappointed with the draw.
"It's a pretty tough race and we've just got to give it a crack and hope for a bit of luck," Colvin said.
"There's no pressure on him. He'll probably be 100-1, I'm just disappointed with the draw. That's going to make it hard.
"We've got our backs against the wall, we've just got to hope we have a bit of luck but when you go in these bigger races, you do have to have a bit of luck."
Colvin does not want to go right back from the wide gate.
"It would be nice to jump out with them, try to come across and get a bit of cover," he said.
"Albury is a funny track. You've got to be positive. It's no good going back and hoping for the best."
Tully Toff is a winner of three races and ran a good second behind Lady Mironton in the Stan Sadleir Stakes over 1400m towards the end of last preparation.
Colvin believes the horse's best is good enough.
"If you go back and see the times he has run. On his day, he can run time," he said.
"He was going bad for a while but had a throat op and that fixed him up. He's come back into it now.
"He's trialled and has been going pretty good. His other trial looked a bit ordinary but he's out to run 1400 not 1000. He worked good on Tuesday so we've just got to hope for a bit of luck now."
It will be Tully Toff's second crack at the Country Championships after running 14th last year.
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