Canberra horse trainer Luke Pepper rates Hill Spy's bold showing in Listed company at Adelaide the ideal lead-up to Thursday's $100,000 1200m Wagga Town Plate.
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But he admits he's concerned about the track record of fellow Thoroughbred Park trainer Matthew Dale's Unanimously, who is looking to win the race for the third time in four years.
Five-year-old gelding Hill Spy's recent form has been superb following back-to-back Canberra wins, including on Black Opal day, with an unlucky fifth in the Listed Manihi Classic at Morphettville, on April 9.
Dale and champion jockey Blake Shinn will join forces with Unanimously, who has drawn favourably in barrier one.
However, Pepper insists he has the jockey in friend Brenton Avdulla to be right in contention.
"I'm really good mates with Brenton before racing and it's great to have a jockey of his calibre – he's riding four of five runners at Wagga for me [on Thursday and Friday]," Pepper said.
"He's been on fire, he's probably the best jockey in Australia right now strike-rate wise.
"If we can go over and knock off a Wagga Plate together I'm sure it would be a big thrill for us.
Hill Spy generally gets back in the field but failed to find a run on the rail at Adelaide before it was too late.
"His run in South Australia was enormous, he got further back than what we really wanted over 1100 [metres], was held back on the straight and sprouted wings late," Pepper said.
"It was an ideal lead-up for a Wagga Town Plate, a horse we beat in Adelaide [Nostradamus] went on to win a group 3 [Irwin Stakes] next start.
"He always races best fresh and this is our grand final."
Unanimously is one of only four horses in over a century to win consecutive Wagga Town Plates, and warmed up with a strong seventh in the Bel Esprit Stakes at Caulfield on April 23.
"His run at Caulfield the other day was super and he's proven in that race. He's the one I'm worried about," Pepper said.
Pepper moved from Moruya to Canberra with five horses a year ago, and now has 15 runners in work.
"Canberra's a bit more commercial and with Moruya there's a lot of travel involved with yourself and the horses," he said.
"I came up here with a 12-month goal to hopefully start training more winners and better class of horses."
Just A Blur, trained by Canberra partnership Barbara Joseph and Paul Jones, will drop significantly back in distance having run over 1500m last start at Rosehill on March 26.
