Warren, Corowa Monday previews: Country Champs winner chasing a treble

Trainer Doug Gorrel experienced the biggest thrill of his career last year when Asgarda won the Country Championships and on Monday he’s chasing another memorable achievement at Corowa.

Tycoon Artie now races in different silks - purple, old gold checks, white sleeves and cap - and he should prove hard to beat at Corowa on Monday. Photo: Bradley Photos.

COUNTRY Championships-winning trainer Doug Gorrel shapes up for a treble at Corowa on Monday with three horses all blessed with a direct connection to a Melbourne Cup winner.

First of the Wagga-housed visitors to race is Dantains Prize, which sports the same predominantly bottle green colours of Gorrel’s Country Championships heroine, Asgarda.

Like her, Dantains Prize was born and raised at the historic Lamont family farm, Kooringal Stud, which is also home to her sire Prized Icon.

Dantains Prize’s Melbourne Cup connection dates back 80 years to her eighth dam, Rainbird.

As for Gorrel’s filly, she is still searching for her first medal of any kind after half a dozen starts.

That said, she did manage to hand in her current personal best at her most recent outing when clocking in fourth in an Albury 1400m Country Maiden.

“She’s not a bad little pony in trackwork but she’s yet to produce it on race day so it was good to see her run that race the other day,’’ Gorrel said.

“We’ve taken the shades (blinkers) off to see if that helps, but she’s going well, and if she wants to do it, she has certainly got some wins in her.

“It just concerns me she hasn’t put one away yet but she’s only had the six starts so here’s hoping Monday is the day

“It’s really up to her, she’s cherry ripe and she’s ready to win.”

Gorrel meanwhile is rightfully more bullish about the winning prospects of stablemate Tycoon Artie which just happens to claim the aforementioned 1945 Melbourne Cup winner Rainbird as his ninth dam.

Tycoon Artie’s four white feet have carried him to four wins in his 18 starts including two of his last four appearances.

His most recent victory was a comfortable win at the very same venue over the very same trip as Monday’s Carlton & United Breweries Benchmark 58 Handicap (1200m).

“He’s in top form and probably deserves the paddock but we’re going to give him one more and then he can go and have a break,’’ Gorrel said.

“He is creeping up in the weights, but I think he’ll be pretty hard to beat with John Kissick on.

“He hasn’t got enormous ability, but he does try.”

All three of Gorrel’s Corowa bound trio will be ridden by Kissick, rounded out aboard Sorry Sunshine in the final race on the card.

Sorry Sunshine was bred by Gorrel, using a stallion that he says ‘no one has ever heard off’.

That stallion is Apologia which won once in 11 starts: an 800m maiden at Wingatui, ironically on Melbourne Cup Day in 2006.

But that’s not Apologia’s only connection with the race that stops a nation.

His fourth dam is the celebrated broodmare Taiona whose four stakes-winning offspring include Gurner’s Lane which famously ran down the immortal Kingston Town in the 1982 renewal.

As for Sorry Sunshine, he tackles the eminently suitable Balldale Hotel Benchmark 58 Handicap (1600m) with a solid, recent, fourth still fresh in his trainer’s mind.

“I normally space his runs back he can back-up,’’ Gorrel said.

“He’s done it before. He backed up and won at the Wagga carnival ten days after a non-TAB meeting at Deniliquin so he can do it.

“He probably deserves the paddock too but I think there’s one more in him.

“He’s just starting to winter up a bit in the coat but his work has been good and it looks a good race for him.”

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DUBBO master Michael ‘Mick’ Mulholland aims to maintain his current hot streak when Warren hosts its first winter meeting of 2025 on Monday.

Mulholland is closing in on 200 winners, nine of which have come at the track widely accepted to be the ‘Randwick of the West’ thanks to its long straights and sweeping bends.

Two of Mulholland’s last four runners are winners and while his last runner – Jasper’s Way – was officially 10th of 13 at Gunnedah, it could and should have been so much different.

“He had no luck at all actually,’’ Mulholland said. “I thought he could have run in the first three if he could have kept going up the fence.

“He was running into it nicely and the 1600m will suit him right down to the ground on Monday.

“He hasn’t got a real lot of gate-speed, so he’ll sit back a little bit and work into it.

“He’s just a big three-year-old that is still learning more than anything.”

Jasper’s Way is sure to start considerably shorter than his $61 Gunnedah starting price when he fronts-up on Monday for the Warren Showgrounds Class 1 & Maiden Plate (1600m).

Jasper’s Way is a son of the former crack two-year-old Pariah and member of one of the most notable families in the Australian Stud Book.

His fourth dam is Stage Hit whose seven wins include the now Group 1 features; the Coolmore Classic and Canterbury Stakes.

There is sure to be a great deal of interest centred on Mulholland-trained gelding The Impeckable which will partner Jasper’s Way on the hour-long drive, west from Dubbo.

A striking brown/black coloured gelding, The Impeckable hasn’t raced since winning at Orange on November 22 last year but has put in the groundwork for his return with a couple of trials at Narromine and Mudgee respectively.

“I was getting him ready for a TAB Highway but a few little niggly things came into play and the weather and things like that,’’ Mulholland said.

“This will be his first run back. He’s fit enough but I’m just not a hundred per cent if he’s a hundred per cent there though, that’s all.

“Even though he has trialled good both times, I’m just not convinced myself.

“He has been against some pretty handy horses, and he’s hasn’t been far away all his runs, he has been very honest right through.”

Originally published as Warren, Corowa Monday previews: Country Champs winner chasing a treble