Group one-winning jockey secured for Wagga Country Championships hopeful

Wagga trainer Tim Donnelly secured the booking of Hutchings on Monday after looking to the metropolitan area for a replacement for jockey Danny Beasley.

Beasley chose to partner the Wayne Carroll-trained Salute Again in the feature race after having the choice of a number of options.

In more moves heading into the qualifier, Shaun Guymer has chosen to ride Dupride Star for Gary Colvin.

Guymer was 'temporarily booked' for fellow Wagga hope Rocket Tiger but trainer Scott Spackman has acted quickly and secured Nick Heywood for the ride.

Spackman will have a two-pronged attack in the race, with Josh Richards set to partner Underpants.

Donnelly was happy to have Hutchings agree to travel to Albury for the ride.

"He's a good, strong heavyweight jockey," Donnelly said.

"I thought he would be available and he's had one ride for me before, he rode Kitzbuhel before he won the Highway and he rode it well.

"He's a good strong rider and he's a group-one winning rider. He's been riding well."

Hutchings was the premier Sydney apprentice back in the 2015-16 season and has two group one wins to his name from his time back home in New Zealand.

The 28-year-old has struggled for opportunities at metropolitan level but did score a midweek winner at Warwick Farm last month.

Donnelly had hoped to also be represented by overseas import Guess in the feature race but the five-year-old needed to have a run in Australia to be eligible for the series.

Colvin was happy to secure Guymer to ride last-start winner Dupride Star and now hopes to draw an ideal barrier.

"We're just hoping for a good draw," Colvin said.

"If we can get a draw we're in with some hope.

"She'll improve out of sight from that run (at Albury), which is good. She's a Pride Of Dubai so she should handle the 1400 alright.

"She's more mature now. She's now a really mature mare so it will be interesting to see how she goes."

Colvin will also nominate Kappy's Angel for the qualifier but is leaning towards an 1175m race on the same day.

Spackman too was thrilled to secure Heywood for Rocket Tiger after he partnered the horse for his first-up fourth at Wagga last week.

"I'm stoked," Spackman said.

"We don't use Nick Heywood enough because we don't have enough horses that carry weight. My horses don't usually carry big weights and if they do, as a rule, we claim or Nick can be hard to get.

"He's won the race a couple of times and he's a relation of mine. He's family."