WAGGA trainer Maddy Collins will be looking to enjoy a winner on her home track before she relocates to Melbourne after Christmas.
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Collins will join her partner, apprentice jockey Josh Richards, down south after Christmas with the pair expecting a child in March.
Collins will be represented by the talented Let's Get Animal at Murrumbidgee Turf Club on Saturday, who will be joined by debutant Bangalee Mist.
Let's Get Animal, a winner of six races, finished last preparation with back-to-back victories for Collins. He resumed at Wagga in September before a mishap forced a change of plans.
"Obviously he had that first up race about 10 weeks ago now but then he had a slight issue in his tendon so he had to have a couple of weeks off. He banged his tendon and needed to have two week's box rest," Collins explained.
"He's come back in really good order, he trialed good on Monday, Simon Miller retains the ride."
Let's Get Animal ran second in a Wagga trial on Monday. He has drawn 11 for Saturday's Sports Bar Plus C,G&E Benchmark 58 Handicap (1200m).
Collins is happy with the six-year-old.
"He's really good. He's nice and fit, he loves the wet, we haven't drawn ideal but there doesn't seem to be a lot of speed in the race so we'll push forward and hopefully he'll be finishing off nice and strong," she said.
"He's not the type of horse that generally does much fresh, he's more of a 1400 metre horse that I'd like to get up over a mile but he's fit and happy and he loves it at home so I think he should be putting in a nice run on Saturday."
Regardless of his effort on Saturday, Let's Get Animal will join Collins in Melbourne next year, along with Kenelem and an unraced two-year-old.
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One horse Collins is excited about for the future is Bangalee Mist.
The four-year-old grey mare ran a nice second in a trial at Wagga on Monday and has drawn the inside for her debut in the Huon Contractors F&M Maiden Handicap (1200m).
"She trialed really good. This is only her second prep. She had a trial last prep and went shin sore so we gave her three months off. So she's come back in really good order, she trialed nice the other day," Collins said.
"She's drawn really well on Saturday, she knows the track well, obviously she's trained here. She didn't trial like a green horse but just because she didn't trial green, doesn't mean they're not going to race green so it will be interesting to see how she does go on Saturday. She's drawn the fence, so that will help."
Mick Travers, who rode Bangalee Mist in the trial, is on board on Saturday. Collins explained that the mare has never been asked to fully let go in training so she is excited to see what she's got.
"It's really hard to go off trials. They didn't run time of anything but she trialed really well. Mick just sat there," she said.
"She comes out running so if she came out and raced like she trialed and he clipped her up, she may be hard to beat because she does have a really strong sprint on her. She's shown that in her track work anyway.
"We've never really asked her to do much at trackwork so I don't really know. I think she's a very exciting horse but whether this is her prep or next prep is her prep, I'm not entirely sure.
"She's bred to get up over ground. I think she's a very nice mare in progress and we'll see how she goes on Saturday."
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