By MATT NICHOLLS
PAUL Grills is hoping to bring home the Guyra Cup on Sunday when he saddles up Dusty’s Felt in the 1900m feature at the Armidale Jockey Club.
The Guyra trainer is flying the flag for the locals and said he was confident Dusty’s Felt could run a big race.
“His run in Lismore the other day (second over 2000m) was good … in fact all his runs this preparion have been pretty good,” Grills said.
“He has been a little bit outclassed in those races, but he loves racing at Armidale.”
Formerly trained by Brett Baker, Dusty’s Felt has raced for Grills since January 2011 and all four wins since then have been at Armidale.
“If he draws a good barrier then he should be hard to hold out.”
Vying for public favouritism will be the Craig Martin-trained Brave Ali, who is owned by a large group of Armidale punters, including Armidale Jockey Club secretary Jim Dedes.
The O’Reilly gelding was sixth in the Port Macquarie Cup last month and has been a solid contender over the past 12 months.
“He didn’t really travel well on the truck to Port Macquarie, so his run there was huge,” Dedes said.
“If he travels well up here on Sunday he should be hard to beat.”
The Leon Davies-trained Clever Hans should also be in contention after an impressive last-start victory in the Krambach Cup (1600m) at Taree on 25 October.
Sunday’s Guyra Cup is being raced over 1900m for the first time in several years after the original 1400m race was washed out in March.
“It’s always a popular race day and we get a good crowd come down from Guyra, so it was great to have the Cup rescheduled,” Dedes said.
GUYRA CUP NOMINATIONS: (allow three lines of copy)
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