Incredibly, the Tamworth trainer has never had a starter at Wallabadah, let alone a Cup runner.

“It is amazing,” he said.

“But we’ve always seemed to bypass it to go to Inverell.”

Our Boy Danny, he said, is working well and he expects him to race well but believes he has a tough job against the likes of Romanticize who he  has  to give 2.5kg.

Jessica Drury will ride Our Boy Danny for Martin. 

She is just a few bounds ahead of Martin in the Wallabadah experience stakes.

She’s ridden there just the once, winning the 2009 Cup aboard the Steve Miller-trained River Press.

“I was apprenticed to Mack (Griffith) then,”  Drury  recalled yesterday.

“I was in the first year of my apprenticeship and I didn’t want to ride there. 

“I had a full book too but the first three were all scratched, one after going off in the saddling enclosure before the race and the other two at the barrier.”

Then she won the Cup aboard River Press to give Miller his fifth Wallabadah Cup in six contested Cups.

Todd Howlett won the other with Maharani Marscay.

Aaron Bullock rode Maharani Marscay to win in 2008 so when Drury won in 2009 she became the sixth straight apprentice to win the Cup.

That run had been started by Cody Morgan, equalling the track record aboard Dolphin Reward for Miller.

Then followed Krystal Gill (2004 Adhemar), Luke Morgan (Dinamira 2005), Miranda Capstaff (Adhemar 2006),  Bullock (Maharani Marscay 2008) and Drury (River Press 2009).

“We always talk about it,”  Drury said of the amazing run for Miller and the apprentices in the Cup.

Daniel Northey, who rides Medal Of Glory for Jane Clement in today’s Cup, broke that apprentice stranglehold when he won the 2011 and 2012 Cups aboard Tony McGrath’s Tompeppa and then Alex Stokes won with Noel Boland’s Husisname in 2013.

However, Chle Lee returned the apprentices to prominence last year when he won aboard Lesley Jeffriess’ Stretch.

Jeffriess chases back-to-back Cups today with Unikin.

She has also booked the only apprentice, Melinda Kinny, in the six-horse field.

 Drury is confident Our Boy Danny can present her with a second Wallabadah Cup though.

She rides the son of Bel Danoro in all his work and has had three rides on him for two wins and a third.

“He was my first winner when I came back,” she said of a recent extended holiday.

While she has only ridden at Wallabadah the once, she understands the tricky track.

“You’ve got to ride it the right way,” she said.

“You try to make a break at the turn.”

That’s easier said than done as horses are galloping full pelt down and around the sharp final turn into a short straight.

Having a front runner is paramount.

“I saw a bit about it on TV last night,” Drury added.

“The track looks good after all that rain. 

“It should be a good day. They’re expecting a big crowd.”

And you can expect to see the royal blue colours sported by Drury up near the lead approaching that final turn.

The rest will be part of the 163rd running of the Wallabadah Cup.