SUE Grills has two nominees in Saturday’s $10,000 Noelene Martin Memorial Benchmark 55 Handicap (1400m) at Tamworth, with both horses yet to break their duck on their home track.
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The Tamworth-based trainer has nominated Fashion Stage and House Wins for the Noelene Martin Memorial.
Fashion Stage has drawn well (3) while House Wins copped 12 and may be headed to Coonamble on Sunday instead.
Both received 56.5kg this week for the 1400m handicap and both are yet to win from two starts at Tamworth.
However that could change for Fashion Stage, in particular, come Saturday after the horse received a good barrier draw.
Greg Ryan will ride Fashion Stage.
“It would be very nice to win the Noelene Martin Memorial,” Sue Grills said. “She was a lovely lady and a great worker for the club.
“She was on the committee for a long while too.”
Grills said Fashion Stage and House Wins both need dry tracks to be at their best too. “Both of them like a dry track,” she said.
“It’s very hard to find dry tracks at this time of year.”
Fashion Stage is the five-year-old daughter of Duporth.
She has had 19 starts for two wins and is coming off a seventh to Highway Handicap-bound Barricade at Dubbo.
“The track was rated a Good 4 out there but the track was terrible,” she said.
“After watching the first race out there I knew it was a waste of time taking her.”
As it turned out to be, with her finishing 5.9 lengths astern of the Peter Bloomfield-trained Barricade.
Barricade is entered in the Highway Handicap in Sydney on Saturday.
House Wins, she said, might not run at Tamworth and instead head out to Coonamble on Sunday.
The three-year-old gelding son of Dubleo has won one of his nine starts and is coming off a ninth to Wacky Doo at Gunnedah.
“He might go out to Coonamble for a Class 1 over 1300m,” she said.
“That might suit him better than the benchmark 55 here at Tamworth.
“Should be a good track out there too.
“They are also predicting good weather here too for Saturday and a good track.”
Grills enjoyed a good weekend in Sydney and at Muswellbrook, with Fickle Folly running a game and gutsy third in Sydney at Saturday’s metro meeting while Assurity won at Skellatar Park, Muswellbrook on Sunday.
Fickle Folly may have one more run “down there” before a possible spell while Assurity is relishing the return to a more suitable distance after being run off her legs over 1000m at her previous start.
Assurity’s win was Grills’ 25th in the HNWRA this season, leaving her fourth in the trainers premiership behind Paul Perry (43), Kris Lees (29) and Greg Bennett (26).
She could have as many as eight runners at Tamworth on Saturday.
Mary Thinks and Carmel are fourth and third emergencies respectively for their races on a day where the seven races will be full fields.
