Taree preview: Trainer Wayne Brown will help jockey Michael Heagney add another track to his tally as he strives for a Big Dance berth

Jockey Michael Heagney will make his first visit to Taree to ride for good friend and trainer Wayne Brown who is chasing a place in the Big Dance via the Taree Gold Cup.

Subuki is looking claim the Taree Gold Cup and earn a place in the Big Dance. Picture: Bradley Photos

Journeyman jockey Michael Heagney will add a 209th racetrack to his traveller’s tally when he visits Taree where the last Big Dance Country Cup is run and won ahead of the $3 million feature on November 5.

Heagney has ridden from one end of Australia to the other, east to west, north to south and in some places that would have Siri stumped.

One track and one day that Heagney will forever remember, and forever be remembered, was at Sandown in late November 1988 when he partnered the great Super Impose to win his first stakes race in the Eclipse Stakes (2100m).

Heagney’s last four rides were at Balaklava in South Australia on Wednesday, his next two will be at Taree for trainer, friend and admirer Wayne Brown aboard the Tamworth duo, Everlasting Kiss and Subuki.

A blowout in the last at @sconeraceclub with Subuki saluting at $100 +! 😯 pic.twitter.com/o7jj4rbXrM

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) June 30, 2023

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“I’ve known Michael for a long time and he’s a great bloke. He’s a legend of a man,” Brown said.

“His aim is to ride in more locations than any other jockey.

“I’ve been to Alice Springs with him, I’ve been to Birdsville with him. I’ve got a great association with him that goes back a fair way and I’m hoping we’ll form a good relationship moving forward.

“If we could get Michael to relocate to Tamworth, it would be a great move and I am hoping that will happen in the not too distant future.

“He’d get plenty of rides here.

“He is a hard worker, he drives for miles and is an absolute gentleman and rock of the earth.”

Trainer Brown, meanwhile, has the luxury of waiting until race morning to decide which Cup he will target with honest mare Subuki who has accepted for the Krambach Cup and the Taree Cup with the added lure of Big Eligibility.

“She just tries and tries and tries,” Brown said.

“She should have finished much closer in the Port Macquarie Cup Prelude, she had to skirt wide and the others got away on her but she made good ground.

A blowout in the last at @sconeraceclub with Subuki saluting at $100 +! 😯 pic.twitter.com/o7jj4rbXrM

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) June 30, 2023

“She has been very unlucky. The reason she is unlucky is because she is a backmarker and that’s what happens to backmarkers.

“She’s a lovely mare. I wish I had a stable full of them.”

Eight Carat descendant Everlasting Kiss looks perfectly placed by Brown to add a Taree win to her Swan Hill win which came at her tenth and final appearance for her precious handlers, Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young.

“She needs 2000m,” Brown said.

“I think she’ll go two miles, she will just keep going.

“I don’t know about the track, that’s the only thing, how heavy the track will get is the biggest problem.

“In all her races she has shown that she was wants to race and she wants to get to the line so that’s a good sign.”

EVENS LOOKING FOR HOMETOWN CUP SUCCESS

Terry Evans and his ghostly grey Sir Ravanelli will be at Wyong on Saturday, packing for a trip north or south after 7.30am.

The Tuncurry pair find themselves in the unwanted position as emergencies for this weekend’s $2 million The Kosciuszko (1200m) with only someone else’s bad luck opening the door for of the emergencies.

Evans’ immediate focus will be closer to home when he and four of his string make their way to Taree on Cup Day including representatives in the co-feature Krambach Cup (1600m) and Kia Lightning Handicap (1000m).

Evan’s best chances of taking home the Kramback Cup rests with the Chequers Stud-bred mare The Young Years who somewhat ironically is getting better with age.

A blowout in the last at @sconeraceclub with Subuki saluting at $100 +! 😯 pic.twitter.com/o7jj4rbXrM

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) June 30, 2023

A case could be made that her eighth of 17, at Rosehill in a TAB Highway on September 28 was as good as anything she’s done in her previous 13 starts.

“Very good, very unlucky,” Evans said.

“Almost should have won, Molly Bourke said to us.

“We felt sorry for her because she couldn’t go anywhere. Molly said, it was only the last 100 metres that she got out.

“She’s maturing really well and has just thickened up a bit.”

The Young Years will be ridden by talented apprentice Emily Farr who counts the daughter of Turn Me Loose as her first career winner.

Farr raised her tally again late last month when steering stablemate De Poet to an all-the-way win at Port Macquarie in a hotly-contested Benchmark 74 over 1000m,

Their shared mission this time is the aforementioned Kia Lightning Handicap.

“He gets in well at the weights with Emily’s claim,” Evans said.

“He comes down two kilos after last run and he’s a very good record on heavy tracks.”

De Poet was born and raised at Torryburn Stud, the son of Denman was housed at Warwick Farm for his first 14 starts prior to being put up for sale on line in May this year.

“We paid $5,000 and he’s won $40,000 so we’re pretty lucky,” Evans said.

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Originally published as Taree preview: Trainer Wayne Brown will help jockey Michael Heagney add another track to his tally as he strives for a Big Dance berth