Hunter and North West trainers won't be straying far from their phones today with the draw for The Kosciuszko taking place at 11am.
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Punters who purchased tickets will find out if they have won a slot for the $1.3 million race and they then have the task of selecting a NSW country or ACT trained horse to run in the race.
A number of trainers and owners will be hoping they get a call from a winning ticket holder wanting to enter one of their horses into the race.
Tamworth's Troy O'Neile is one of those trainers. His horse Cassy's Sister is in the mix and he'd love nothing more than to have his phone ring nice and early.
"You get nervous and the longer you sit there and wait for your phone to ring, the more the hope starts to fade, if you know what I mean," O'Neile said.
However, if that call doesn't come today, O'Neile won't be giving up hope.
Cassy's Sister has pulled up well from her last race well where she missed the start by 10 or so lengths before storming home to finish third.
She missed the start when the mare stuck her head into the neighbouring stall just as the gates opened.
"They didn't realise that she'd put her head over there, because there was barrier attendants in the other one [stall] and she put her head over there being a sticky beak - she's never done it before," O'Neile said.
O'Neile described the run as enormous and said Cassy's Sister was ready to race in the next week if she needs to further push her claims.
"If she's not selected in the first rounds, the plan will be to run her in that week between the ninth and probably around about the 16th," O'Neile said.
"Somewhere in there to pick up one of those later spots if she wasn't picked in that first round of intakes."
A number of Hunter and North West trainers are a chance to gain slots.
Scone trainer Brett Cavanough has last year's winner It's Me at the top of the better, Scone's Rod Northam has Spiranac in the market while Tamworth's Cody Morgan has a number of horses, including Edit and Mo's Crown, toward the top of the betting - to name a few.
Meanwhile, Sue Grills has had a new contender emerge from this week's meeting at Scone.
My Benalla made his racing return after an 81-week spell on Tuesday to put his hand up for a spot in The Kosciuszko.
Returning from a tendon injury, the $2000 purchase finished brilliantly to win the 1000m Benchmark 66 Handicap which instantly struck up talk of a start in the $1.3 million race.
"We would love to get him in the race," Grills said.
"The 1200m at Randwick would suit him perfect; he will settle well and fly home and that is the beauty of him.
"Now he has had a couple of trials, he is only going to get better, and he has that good turn of foot you need to win a race like that."
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Ben Jaffrey
Ben is a content curator and journalist for The Land. He has been with ACM since 2015 and first worked at The Area News and then at the Northern Daily Leader. Ben first joined ACM Agri as a digital journalist for all seven agricultural mastheads in 2022 before shifting to The Land full-time in 2023.
Ben is a content curator and journalist for The Land. He has been with ACM since 2015 and first worked at The Area News and then at the Northern Daily Leader. Ben first joined ACM Agri as a digital journalist for all seven agricultural mastheads in 2022 before shifting to The Land full-time in 2023.
