The Tamworth Harness Racing Club will host five heats of the Multiquip Golden Guitar on Sunday evening where 50 horses will be vying to fill 10 spots in the $40,000 final.
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The 38th running of the Golden Guitar final will be held at the Golden Guitar Paceway on January 21.
Sydney trainer Jarrod Alchin will continue on his quest in an endeavour to gain a spot in the final.
"I have won heats of the Golden Guitar before but no luck in the final," Alchin said.
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He will be accompanied by Sydney reinsman Cameron Hart, who will take the reins behind Aqua Sancta, Delightful Dude and Just A Little Bit for the stables.
"Cameron drives all my horses and has the pick of his drives. This is the first time he will be coming to Tamworth for the carnival and I think we have a couple of good chances but we have to overcome the barrier draws first," Alchin added.
Hart finished the 2021 racing season on top of the NSW premiership ladder in both the State and Concession Drivers Premierships, securing 174 winning drives and 228 placings and amassing a total of $1,969,550 in prizemoney for owners and trainers.
At age 22 Cameron Hart has driven 575 career wins!
Aqua Sancta will be the first to take up the challenge in heat 2 from the 10 barrier with his last start being at Menangle on January 6.
"He seems to be a nice horse and broke 26 seconds in the last quarter in his last start at Menangle," Alchin said.
"The horse is where we want him to be but he has got a bit of traffic to overcome from the draw."
Delightful Dude has also secured the 10 barrier in the third heat and comes into the race off a last start third at Menangle.
"The horse is at the top of his game at the moment - he is the main reason for coming," Alchin added, with the gelding securing six wins from 13 race starts last season.
Just a Little Bit is the only runner from the team to commence off the front line and has secured barrier six in heat four.
"He has drawn bad as well," he said.
"But he got home good in his last start."
He was second at Penrith on December 23 to Team Of Starzzz, beaten by a half neck over 1720m with the mile rate of 1.56.1.
"Cameron has driven all the horses before and I think we have a couple of chances," Alchin said.
"But we have to make it into the final first."
Meanwhile Queensland trainer Graham Dwyer has nine runners engaged across the five heats.
"The closest I have been in the final is I finished fourth," he said.
"Everyone would like to think they have the winner - you have to be positive going into the heats."
"I think Harps (Cameron Hart) and The Hervey Bay (Michael Formosa) will be my best chances this year."
There will a strong local representation with ten Tamworth trainers having heat runners.