WAGGA trainer Tim Donnelly hopes Powerscourt can continue a prosperous preparation when he steps out on his home track at Murrumbidgee Turf Club on Friday.
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Donnelly has opted to start Powerscourt and scratch stablemate Iggy The Moocher from the R H Blake & Co Benchmark 58 Handicap (1000m).
Donnelly accepted with both horses but has opted to save Iggy The Moocher for his stable debut at Corowa on Monday.
Donnelly saved the decision until he walked the track on Thursday afternoon.
"I just thought that the outside going looks okay and he'll get back and get to the outside," Donnelly said of Powerscourt.
"And also too, it just means he runs in a 58, where he's run well in 58s before.
"The other race at Corowa was a (benchmark) 66, where it would have been a bit harder. There looks a heap of speed in that and if he drew wide at Corowa, and the fields don't come out until (Friday), but if he drew wide there it's very hard to get back and get home."
Powerscourt has turned the corner for Donnelly in his last two preparations, winning four of his last eight starts.
This campaign alone, he has won twice and finished in the minor placings twice from four runs.
"He's going great, really good," Donnelly said.
"Even that day he drew the outside here and ran third, he ran a bloody ripper race."
Donnelly's apprentice, Heni Ede, will continue her association with Powerscourt on Friday. She has ridden the gelding seven times for two wins and three minor placings.
Most importantly, her three kilogram claim helps him get in with 60.5 kilograms, starting from barrier 12.
Iggy The Moocher, who would have carried 62kg after Ede's claim, will go around at Corowa on Tuesday instead where it will be his first start for Donnelly since leaving the Bjorn Baker yard.
"I'm really happy with him, he's gone well," he said.
"Look, 1000 may be a little bit short for him, but he trialled well and I'll really happy with him. I think you've just got to forget about his last preparation, where he just lost all form.
"To me, he seems really good and he's obviously coming back from the city. Previously he just got beat in a (MTC) Guineas with 61."
Back at Wagga on Friday, Donnelly's only other runner will be Jodhpur in the Claas Harvest Centre Wagga Wagga Class Two Handicap (1200m).
He has drawn the ire of some punters having placed in his last five starts, but Donnelly expects him to again be around the mark.
"I'd love to own him, I know that," he said.
"I think the same thing, if he gets even luck, it's the perfect race for him. It fell away from the noms a little bit, I think he's well weighted because in the race Would Be King had 60.5 and had to give him a kilo and a half, and he's only won a maiden and this bloke's won two and probably should have won four.
"So I still think he's pretty well in with 59."
Mathew Cahill reclaims the ride.
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