FASTER Buster looms as one to beat this weekend as punters head to Cloncurry for Cup Day.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Cloncurry and District Race Club will host a six-race card tomorrow, headlined by the Tim Koitka Memorial Cloncurry Cup over 1400 metres.
Mount Isa-based trainer Patrick Inwood is pleased with the seven-year-old gelding's preparation, having won on three occasions since May.
``If he's not fit now he's not going to be,'' Inwood said.
``[He has] been travelling all over the country side.
``If he gets a decent barrier draw he should be right.
``He ran second and third over 1600m and second in the McKinlay Cup over 1800m then came back here and won a 1000m race.''
Since that win on July 13 at Buchanan Park in open company Faster Buster has peeled off two seconds, a third and most recently a fourth in the Spring Cup late last month.
Competition will come from Denise Ballard's trio of Abdicated (Spring Cup winner), Stellar Show and Eastline while Jay Morris (Servimoss), Steven Royes (Bolton), Richard Simpson (Lucasm), Ray Hermann (Light Warrior) and Tanya Parry (Rockbel) have chances of their own.
The Benchmark 75 Handicap poses as the day's second most lucrative race, with $5525 at stake.
The 1000m sprint sees a healthy field of nine nominated, led by Parry's Surpasser.
The eight-year-old gelding saluted last start in Cloncurry, winning the John Bulley and Judy Keyes Memorial over 1200m (September 14).
Royes' Dimi The Dancer similarly looms as a strong chance, having produced eye-catching form of late.
The eight-year-old gelding has claimed two runs in Townsville, before returning to the North West to fetch two more placings.
Dimi The Dancer's last start, a third in Birdsville, came on September 6.