The Mountain ready to stand tall in final

Brett Woodhouse's three-year-old has won two of his last three starts, all at Wagga, with a second splitting his victories.

The Mountain was the fastest qualifier out of the four heats of the Riverina Local Pace series (1740m) last week.

Coming from last, The Mountain produced a big run to defeat A Perfect Dance by 5.7 metres in a career best mile rate of 1:55.6.

Woodhouse was pleased with the performance.

"I thought he was down in class a bit from the week before," Woodhouse said.

"They did go a little bit hard early so I was confident they would be coming back to me at some stage but I was happy with the way he just boxed on."

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With a scratching, The Mountain will start from barrier two.

Woodhouse is looking to dictate terms from the front.

"He's got a good draw and should be able to go forward from there and we will see what happens," he said.

"He does have gate speed and does come out pretty good so I'm pretty sure we will be able to lead from there."

The Mountain was run down by Bosch when leading two starts ago.

Leading hasn't been something the son of Warrawee Needy has been accustomed to in the strong start to career.

He's won seven of his 18 starts, and been placed on another five times, but only one of those wins has been while in front.

Bosch, who has won since to bring up a hat-trick for Brad Hewitt, sprinted past the three-year-old.

However Woodhouse is far from concerned.

"He was just a better horse and has shown that as he's kept winning," he said.

"He was just too good for us on the day."

The Riverina Local Pace Final is one of the features of a bumper 10-race card on Friday.

The other is the Menangle Country Series heat where Bosch is looking to make it four in row since resuming for the Goulburn trainer.

The first race will start at 12.18pm.