TWO of Southern District's brightest prospects will be put to the test at Rosehill on Saturday.
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Leading Southern District trainer Mitch Beer will send both Hardware Lane and Well In Sight around at Rosehill.
Beer has decided to split the pair up after initially nominating both for the $100,000 TAB Highway Class Three Handicap (1100m) and the $130,000 3YO Benchmark 72 Handicap (1100m).
Hugh Bowman will take the ride on Well In Sight in the Highway, while Rachel King will partner Hardware Lane in the three-year-old race.
Hardware Lane is already a Highway winner and tuned up for his city test with a six-length romp at Albury last week.
"The 61 kilos in the Highway made the decision a bit easy for me," Beer explained.
"I just think Hardware Lane, he's the second highest-rated horse in the three-year-old race so it's not like he's running out of his grade.
"We might get another three-year-old run out of him but it will be a great opportunity to give that horse a run against his own age, the old saying when they're three run them against three-year-olds, they're only three once.
"He's drawn alright, he gets in better at the weights, it's obviously a stronger race but it's worth a considerably more amount of money. And having another good chance in the Highway made that decision easier."
Well In Sight won her first three starts before finishing down the track in the $750,000 Inglis Sprint at Flemington in March.
She returned from a break with a nice second in a barrier trial at Albury last week and Beer is keen to see what she produces first-up.
"She's going great. I thought her trial the other day here was really good," he said.
"She wasn't asked to do a lot, it took Sunrise Ruby to have a little push along to run up her inside. We just looked after her a bit in the trial because her fitness levels have come to hand pretty good.
"I think she's certainly a horse that out of the horses we've taken to win the Highway, she sits in that mould pretty comfortably, but in saying that I think it's a cracking little Highway. Any of those class threes over the shorter trip between now and the Kosiuszko are going to be very strong races."
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ACCOMPLISHED Wagga galloper Forever Newyork has been retired.
Wagga trainer Gary Colvin reported to stewards that he bled for a second time once he returned to his stables after his final run at Murrumbidgee Turf Club on June 14.
The talented chestnut bows out with a record of seven wins, 10 minor placings and $226,570 in career earnings from 43 starts.
The highlight of Forever Newyork's racing career was a Friday night city win at Canterbury back in February 2019.
He ran a close second in the 2017 SDRA Country Championship heat at Albury as a three-year-old, then was a luckless fifth in the $250,000 Magic Millions Country Cup at the Gold Coast in January last year.
Colvin was full of praise for what Forever Newyork achieved.
"He's been a good horse. He had a foot problem early and that was the main thing that held him back a bit. But we had a lot of fun with him," Colvin said.
"He had a very distinguished career and the owners had a ball with him."
Colvin is pleased that he has been purchased by Brett Bradley with an eye on an eventing career.
"He's gone to a good home. I didn't want him to just go the paddock, I think he's still got a bit left in him as an eventer," Colvin said.
"He's a beautiful looking horse, every time he would go to the races he would turn heads."
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WAGGA Town Plate winner Front Page is in the paddock.
Corowa trainer Geoff Duryea reported on Monday that Front Page has gone for a short break after things did not turn out after the Wagga Town Plate win.
Front Page ran 12th of 16 in the listed Straight Six at Flemington and then fourth in the Golden Topaz at Swan Hill.
The five-year-old is the $6.00 favourite with TAB for the $1.3 million Kosciuszko at Randwick in October.
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ANOTHER horse on the Kosciuszko trail is Another One.
The Country Championships winner returned to Gary Colvin's stables a couple of weeks ago and is being aimed at the $1.3 million Kosciuszko.
Colvin is happy with how Another One has returned and explained the early plan is to target the Kosciuszko fresh.
"He's been in for a couple of weeks. I'm very happy with him. He's going along nice," Colvin said.
"I'm looking forward to it. In the Town Plate, he'd been up for a long time and it took the freshness out of his legs. He'll probably have a couple of trials going into (the Kosciuszko) and go in nice and fresh."
Another One is on the second line of betting at $8.00 for the Kosciuszko.
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ALBURY jockey Jason Lyon will again rack up plenty of miles over the next week.
Lyon will head to Darwin on Saturday to ride on Guineas Day.
Lyon has picked up the ride on the Neil Dyer-trained Leon's Shout in the $75,000 Darwin Guineas (1600m).
Lyon has six rides on the nine-race card.
It has been an eventful week already for the well-travelled hoop, who came off Khawadi on the way to the barriers at Corowa on Monday. He escaped with minor injuries but had to forego his rides later in the day.
The trip to Darwin means Lyon will miss Wagga's meeting on Monday.
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EXPERIENCED jockey Mathew Cahill appears set to claim his first Southern District Racing Association (SDRA) premiership.
Another two meetings past over the last week without the two chasers, Simon Miller and Hannah Williams, riding a winner.
Miller has publicly stated he is not chasing the premiership and rode at Echuca on Saturday instead of the Gundagai meeting.
Cahill holds a seven-win lead over Miller and now just four SDRA meetings remain for the season. Williams is one win further back.
Williams is a runaway leader in the apprentice's title, leading Fiona Sandkuhl and Amy McLucas by 12.
In the trainer's premiership, Mitch Beer leads Andrew Dale by 12.
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WHAT'S ON
GALLOPS
Monday: Wagga (TAB)
TROTS
Friday: Wagga (TAB)
Tuesday: Leeton (TAB)
DOGS
Friday: Wagga (TAB)
Tuesday: Temora (TAB)