10 Country Championship Horses To Follow

By Brad Gray

The first heat of the Country Championships is only days away! The concept goes from strength to strength as evidenced by the quality of horses set to compete in the 2018 series.

1. Awesome Pluck (Port Macquarie)
This lanky three-year-old is still learning his trade and has some filling out to do but his effort on his home deck last time out suggests he might be turning a corner. Trainer Jenny Graham had the gelding ridden cold in the 1010m event and despite the race being run to suit, he thundered down the middle of the track to win comfortably. Has placed twice in city company behind Manicure and Savatiano, despite doing things wrong. Will it all come too soon for Awesome Pluck? Maybe, but his raw ability will take him a long way.

2. Victorem (Port Macquarie)
Jenny Graham’s small team is stacked this year with Awesome Pluck to be joined by equally talented stablemate Victorem. Perhaps the more ‘readymade’ of the two but this I Am Invincible gelding is still far from the finished product. Has a habit of missing the start but like all good horses, tends to find a way to win, no matter the circumstances. Is a last-start Highway winner, where he ran down the speedy All Stand. Connections knocked back big money from Hong Kong to enjoy the ride with this horse.

3. Don’t Give A Damn (Goulburn)
Danny Williams has never shied away from how highly he rates this lightly-raced four-year-old. Don’t Give A Damn has won four of his five outings, with the loss a narrow one to Suncraze back in September last year. The horse returned in brilliant fashion at Rosehill beating a handy field which included Insenseta, Wild Heart and spruiked three-year-old Kaonic. That win prompted Williams to suggest they could skip the Country Championships and aim up at the Doncaster!

4. Kopi Luwak (Goulburn)
This big lump of a gelding notoriously hospitalised Danny Williams three years ago, leaving the trainer motionless in Canberra hospital for two months. After a lengthy layoff himself, Kopi Luwak won well first up at Moruya before running a brave second to his stablemate Aquittal, chasing from back in the pack. Given the Snitzel five-year-old went unsighted for nearly three years it’s fair to say he has only blown out the cobwebs so far this campaign.

5. Suncraze (Tamworth)
Will the penny ever fully drop for Suncraze? After a devastating debut win at Dubbo, he embarked on a frustrating stretch of six consecutive seconds. That was before he stepped out to 1400m in a Highway Handicap and put his rivals to the sword. He subsequently then took the scalp of Don’t Give a Damn. Trainer Melanie O’Gorman has been eyeing off the Country Championships for a long time now as those close to the horse, including regular jockey Corey Brown, know what he is capable of.

6. Most Exalted (Mudgee)
This former Gooree-owned gelding has hit the ground running for Mudgee-based trainer Mack Griffith. The son of Street Cry poked home along the fence to win on debut for his new stable at Kembla Grange before being on the right side of a protest at Rosehill. He sits right on the edge of the qualifying conditions with four wins to his name and 20 starts so expect to see him first up in the Mudgee Qualifier on February 25. Griffith will be looking to go one better than 2016 when Pera Pera ran second to Clearly Innocent.

7. Rekindled Force (Scone)
Paul Messara has seen Tarangower (2nd 2015) and Caerless Choice (4th 2017) run well in the Country Championships Final in the past and his best chance this year looks to be Rekindled Force. The three-year-old colt, who is a full brother to Group Two-placed Rekindled Power, launched his career with two victories. The first in the country at Muswellbrook before winning comfortably at Newcastle. He quickly graduated to town and despite looking disappointing at the time, he was beaten by a very smart filly in the way of Unforgotten.

8. Snitz (Murwillumbah)
Matthew Dunn has been strangely quiet in the Highway Handicaps recently but you can bet why – he is saving his bullets for a crack at the Country Championships. His huge Murwillumbah-based team will be ticking over ahead of the Grafton Qualifier on March 11. Nailing it down to a top seed is difficult but we’ve gone the way of Snitz. The three-year-old has won three of his seven starts including his last two where he relished the 1350m trip. There is still plenty of upside there.

9. Ori On Fire (Mudgee)
There is a nice sense of timing about Cam Crockett’s four-year-old gelding Ori On Fire. He won by the length of the straight first up at Tamworth before Crockett raised the bar to tackle a Highway Handicap where he led at a good clip before being swallowed up at the 200m. That prompted a change of tactics at Bathurst last start where he was ridden with cover. It made all the difference with the son of Benfica proving too strong at the finish.

10. Ferniehirst (Coffs Harbour)
This Paul Smith-trained mare burst into Country Championships calculations after a crushing win at Port Macquarie last time out. Her $4.60 starting price suggests that the victory itself was no surprise but the five length margin certainly was. She isn’t getting any younger at six but she is lightly-raced and looks to have struck career best form at the right time. Don’t discount her when she lines up in the Grafton qualifying heat on March 11.