FRESH from great Grafton carnival success, local Hunter and North West Racing Association trainers are changing their racing sights a little further north this week.

Tamworth’s Sue Grills, Lesley Jeffriess, Mark Mason and Craig Martin are all looking north to Brisbane along with Moonbi’s Ruth Cooper after most of them picked up wins at the recent Grafton Cup Carnival.

Martin leads the way.

He started San Carlo in Brisbane last Saturday and has Twigerre running at Doomben today.

Mason is bypassing the Coffs Harbour Cup with South Grafton Cup winner Laogan for either this Saturday’s Brisbane or Sydney meeting while Grills, Jeffriess and Cooper are all definite Brisbane starters.

Cooper bypasses Muswellbrook’s Bengalla Cup on Sunday (see story page 35) to start her talented four-year-old in a Class 6 Plate at Eagle Farm on Saturday.

Jeffriess has All Again and Grafton winner Sun Vegas entered on Saturday while Grills has Top Beat entered in the same race as All Again.

Twigerre is a 16-1 chance to favourite Black Morgan in today’s Stardex Insurance Group Class 3 Handicap at Doomben.

The gelding has drawn poorly in barrier 18.

Top Beat, Laogan and All Again are all nominated for Saturday’s Country Cup at the Eagle Farm meeting.

All Again was third to Victory Charm and Top Beat in the recent Maclean Cup at Grafton, a race where HNWRA horses finished in the top six placings with Edgy Affair (Paul Berrigan) fourth, So Determined (Craig Martin) fifth and Campeche (Craig Martin) sixth.

It was an amazing result, Jeffriess said.

“I was only worried about dad (Merv Corliss, trainer of Victory Charm) beating me, and he did.

“But he (All Again) ran a good race – was only beaten something like a neck, a neck. And they ran a race record.”

She admits she might have got the race tactics a little wrong in that Maclean Cup.

Normally a bold front-running type, she asked jockey Geoff Snowden to hold him a bit.

“Looking back now we should have led because of the way the track was but I just wanted him held up a bit because he had been going too hard in his races.”

Jeffriess also has Sun Vegas, who won at Grafton on Maclean Cup day, racing at Doomben on Saturday.

“His owners have been a little disheartened with him but he won well at Grafton and his an honest little bloke,” she said.

Grills also takes Grafton winner Miss Henrietta and Maclean Cup runner-up Top Beat to Brisbane on Saturday and also has new stable star Little Shrek engaged in Friday’s feature race at Gunnedah.