HIGHWAY BOUND: Wagga trainer Wayne Carroll will run Sumdeel at Rosehill on Saturday.

WAGGA trainer Wayne Carroll will send Sumdeel to Sydney on Saturday in the first of what he hopes is three Highway runs.

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Sumdeel has drawn barrier seven with Rachel King to ride in the $75,000 TAB Highway Class Two Handicap (1500m) on Golden Rose day at Rosehill.

The four-year-old mare showed her class with an impressive maiden win at the Wagga Gold Cup earlier in the year and returned from a spell with a third placing at Gundagai earlier this month.

Carroll knows Sumdeel will be better over further but is keen to see what she can do against quality opposition on Saturday.

"She doesn't get around Gundagai, we know that, but going to this race we're going to on Saturday, I had to go somewhere, which is fine, because I've got races going forward if she warrants it," Carroll said.

"There's some more nice races down the road for her coming up. It's only 1500 on Saturday, I know that's probably short of her best but she's second up, she's very fresh and very well in herself.

"I'm excited, we've got a nice barrier draw and she's down in the weights. In three weeks time there is a class three 1600, then two weeks after that there's another class three 1800.

"So we'll go down, we'll see where she's at and it will give us a good guide. We know it's always very difficult from here but we'll see how we go."

Carroll's team have put plenty of time and effort into Sumdeel this preparation and he hopes they can reap the rewards down the track.

"I've had to do a lot of different work with her this time in because she works too hard," he said.

"She does a lot of work here at home, we ride her along the river twice a week and do a lot of different things with her to get her right."

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Wagga trainer Chris Hardy with Zakeriz

WAGGA galloper Zakeriz is now a Highway winner.

Wagga trainer Chris Hardy was notified recently of the disqualification of the Matthew Dunn-trained Rothenburg from the TAB Highway Class Three Handicap (1400m) at Rosehill on July 11.

Zakeriz ran second behind Rothenburg on that occasion, and has since been promoted to first at order of the stewards.

It gives Hardy and connections a Highway win with Zakeriz, and an extra $20,000 in prizemoney.

"It came out of the blue, it's not the way you want to win but anyway," Hardy said.

"The extra prizemoney is awfully handy, it's good for the horse but not quite the same thrill."

The disqualification also gives Richard Bensley a city winner.

Zakeriz is now in the paddock, recovering from injury, after a brilliant preparation that saw him win three in a row and go from a maiden to Highway winner in the space of a month.

Unfortunately due to injury, the six-year-old will remain in the spelling paddock until early in the new year.

"He went lame in the off hind. It's not as bad as perhaps we first thought, he's just got to have some time off," Hardy said.

"I'll leave him out until at least January anyway."

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James McDonald

LEADING jockey James McDonald has been confirmed for Front Page's Kosciuszko quest.

Front Page resumed at Caulfield last Saturday and lost few admirers with a second placing behind From Within.

The win of the Brett Cavanough-trained It's Me in a Highway at Randwick on Saturday saw it rocket into favouritism at $3, but Front Page is on the second line of betting at $5.00.

Corowa trainer Geoff Duryea is weighing up a Sydney start for Front Page before the big dance, or headto the $1.3 Kosciuszko on October 17 via a Wagga trial.

The Mitch Beer-trained Redouble won a trial at Wagga last Saturday in preparation for the race.

The 2019 Magic Millions Cup winner scored by one and a half lengths in a time of 59.12 seconds for the 1000m but will have the addition of blinkers for his first-up run in The Kosciuszko.

The seven-year-old is also expected to gallop between races at Albury on October 10, a week before the race.

Meantime, Man Of Peace is down to trial at Goulburn on Friday for his Wagga connections.

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Benno's Boy.

TREVOR Sutherland's war horse Benno's Boy was sold this week.

A number of Sutherland's horses went under the hammer at bloodstockauction.com this week. The six-time Southern District premiership-winning trainer is appealing a three-year disqualification for horses he formerly trained being sent to slaughter.

Benno's Boy, a veteran of 167 starts, 17 wins and $250,000 in prizemoney, was sold for $4500.

Let's Get Animal fetched the most at $23,500, while Kappy Cino ($8000), Sheeza Menzies ($9000), Empires Collide ($5000) and King Of Sting ($1900) also found new homes.

Let's Get Animal is set to be trained at Wagga by Maddy Collins, while Kappy Cino and Sheeza Menzies are off to Mitch Beer.

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Jawwaal at Flemington on Wednesday

THE Mitch Beer-trained Jawwaal was not far away from making it three wins on the trot at Flemington on Wednesday.

Jawwaal had won his last two starts at Albury and Wagga by a combined margin of almost 14 lengths.

He jumped to city grade down the famous Flemington straight and finished a gallant second at big odds behind the Nathan Hobson-trained Yulong Storm.

Jawwaal has been entered into the Kosciuszko market at TAB as a $51 chance with Beer believing he would be an ideal candidate for the final slot in his current form.

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