Zakeriz has won his past two starts in impressive fashion and gets a well-deserved crack at Highway grade at Rosehill.

The five-year-old will tackle the $75,000 TAB Highway Class Three Handicap (1400m) and has come up with barrier four.

"We need all the advantages we can get," Hardy said.

"I don't know if he's quite up to the class but if we don't go, we'll never know.

"I'm a bit nervous but looking forward to it. He hasn't done much wrong so I have to give him a chance."

Zakeriz last month provided Hardy with his first winner in over four years when scoring in a maiden at Albury.

It was just his second start back from 12 months in the paddock with a tendon injury.

He then backed it up with another win at Albury, in class one company, bolting in by two and three quarter lengths.

Hardy admits he would have been surprised if someone had told him six weeks ago that he'd be off to Rosehill with Zakeriz.

"Six weeks ago, it would have, yes probably but he's done all that we've asked of him this time in," Hardy said.

"I guess the ease of the win (last start) was a bit of a surprise but I thought he'd run well. I thought the 1400 would suit him, there wasn't any surprises over that.

"We're going to find out whether he's up to the class or not but you always hope for the best and we'll just see what happens."

Hardy will stick with country jockey Richard Bensley, who has ridden him to victory at his past two starts, for the city assignment.

Zakeriz's dam, Keys To Thekingdom, was Hardy's last metropolitan runner back in 2008.

Zakeriz was bred by Hardy and Richard Thackeray, who race the gelding with their wives.

Thackeray has enjoyed a good run of late, not only with Zakeriz but also as a part-owner of Kruanui, who has won two of his last three starts for Chris Heywood.

...

MURRUMBIDGEE Turf Club will host a transferred meeting on Tuesday.

The meeting originally scheduled for Albury has been moved to Wagga amid two fresh cases of coronavirus in the city, along with the chaos with border closures.

The meeting, along with the remainder of NSW racing for the moment, will be closed to Victorians.

MTC chief executive Steve Keene was happy to help the industry and take the meeting on.

"The industry has moved that meeting just to ease the pressure on the (Albury) club and just to make sure (coronavirus) stays out of the industry and we keep racing," Keene said.

MTC averages 'around 12 to 15' Victorian horses as meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic so the ban will have an impact on field sizes and turnover.

But Keene said it is a small price to pay if it means keeping racing going.

"It's disappointing for us and those clubs that do get those trainers but I'm sure it won't be too long and we'll have them back at the races," he said.

"It's a strong stance by Racing NSW to ensure we keep racing. The industry's got through so far so you'd hate to see it fall over at the last hurdle."

MTC received 126 nominations for the seven-race card, with entries extended for the Maiden Plate (1600m).

...

THE closure of the Victorian border has created plenty of chaos this week.

Corowa trainer Geoff Duryea was quick to think and went and grabbed star pair News Girl and Front Page from their spelling paddock in Rutherglen on Tuesday morning.

News Girl was set to come back into work shortly anyway, while Front Page had only been in the paddock for a couple of weeks since his sensational Creswick Stakes win at Flemington.

The closure may force Duryea to campaign in Sydney, as opposed to Melbourne, with the pair.

It has also impacted a number of Albury stables, with seven of Mitch Beer's staff having to temporarily relocate across the border.

...

ALBURY trainer Donna Scott hopes Lord Von Costa's place in the $1.3 million Kosciuszko is sealed after his stakes win at Flemington last Saturday.

The Kosciuszko has long been the target for the connections of Lord Von Costa and he moved onto the fourth line of betting, at $11 with TAB, after the Victorian Sprint Series Final (1200m) win.

Scott had planned to give Lord Von Costa a short break at their Victorian spelling property but the border closure has put an end to those plans.

"He was going to go for a bit of a break to the paddock but obviously our spelling farm's in Victoria so that's put that on hold. We'll have to look for somewhere else for him to have a bit of a break, we're in the same boat as Geoff Duryea a bit," Scott said.

"We thought we would either go to Victoria or NSW way with the lead up races but we'll probably just wipe Victoria now and concentrate on NSW."

Scott hopes Lord Von Costa has now done enough to convince a slot holder to select him and will concentrate on having him cherry ripe for the Kosciuszko on October 17.

"Everyone seems to think he's nearly guaranteed that someone would pick him so we thought then that we'd concentrate on having him right for either second or third up into the Kosciuszko," she said.

"He's a horse that's better second or third up so we might have to throw him in the deep end a little bit with something but that won't worry us too much because our goal will be The Kosciuszko second or third up with him.

"We thought we would give him a break now and just pick a couple of group races in the lead up to it."

...

LEADING Southern District jockey Blaike McDougall was successful in his appeal last Friday.

McDougall had his providing false or misleading evidence suspension reduced from six weeks to four weeks on appeal.

The incident in question took place at Hawkesbury last month.

McDougall will now be free to ride on August 10.

It comes on the back of a phenomenal season, where he rode 139 winners and currently leads the NSW statewide premiership by nine wins, with three weeks to go.

...

GALLOPS

Tuesday: Wagga (TAB)

TROTS

Friday: Wagga (TAB)

Tuesday: Young (TAB)

DOGS

Friday: Wagga (TAB)