Cody Morgan and Mark Mason are hoping for a second shot at the Country Championships Final at Scone on Sunday.
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The Tamworth trainers have both nominated runners for the $150,000 Northern Wild Card, which along with the Southern qualifier at Goulburn on Friday will determine the final two spots in the $500,000 final.
Unsurprisingly Morgan heads the nominations with six.
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As he indicated to The Leader following the qualifier in Tamworth, Acrophobic, Seguso and Casino Lord, who was just pipped for second and automatic qualification, will back up.
Fresh from wins at Tamworth last week he has also nominated Dimension and Talbragar, along with Russian Standard. The latter was impressive in winning on Country Championships day.
Mason has meanwhile nominated Strelitzia.
The mare was ninth in the qualifier but ran well without a lot of luck.
"She got caught in on the fence and she was the widest runner turning for home," Mason said.
First-up from a 22-week spell then, she will be better for the run. The Scone track should also suit her.
"It's a big long straight," he said.
"It gives her more time to get home because she's a backmarker."
Mason broke the now five-year-old in and has had the Country Championships on the radar for a little while.
"When she went for a spell, we had this in mind," he said.
One of 28 nominations, he believes Strelitzia's benchmark should be enough to make the final field.
"I think I counted her down to be about 12 on the nominations," he said.
Rather than the first two as is the case with the qualifiers only the winner from Sunday will gain a spot in the final at Royal Randwick on Saturday April 1.
