Rockhampton trainer Nick Walsh hellbent on winning The Archer trophy for the locals
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Rockhampton trainer Nick Walsh is hellbent on keeping The Archer trophy in Australia's beef capital as he prepares his gun sprinter Hell for his 'grand final' on Sunday.
Walsh believes there are four genuine chances in the $1m slot race over 1300m in TAB's equal favourites Transatlantic and Iowna Merc (both $4), Sandpaper ($4.80) and his four-year-old gelding Hell ($7.50).
And in a massive boost for Walsh's hopes, he has secured the services of Rockhampton product and Brisbane's leading jockey in the metro premiership race, Emily Lang, to ride Hell from barrier nine in the hunt for the $565,000 winner's cheque.
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'She's ridden this track since she was pretty young so she definitely knows it well,' Walsh said.
'She knows the horse better than anyone too so I'm really happy about her being on.
'We could've drawn a bit softer but the barrier wasn't a major concern with the way his racing pattern is.'
Brisbane's premier trainer Tony Gollan has been vocal about his Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap hopes for Transatlantic but for Walsh, this is Hell's grand final.
'I think he's a great chance, I really do,' said Walsh, who turns 27 later this month.
'I think he's a genuine top-four chance and there are probably four chances in the race.
'Out of those four chances there are a couple of question marks.
'Transatlantic is first-up at 1300m and getting set for the Stradbroke so this isn't his grand-final day, although he'll be wound up enough.
'Then you've got the likes of (Bjorn Baker's southern raiders) Iowna Merc and Sandpaper that haven't been set for the race at all.
'The slot-owners have rung up a couple of weeks ago so it's like 'we'll throw them on the truck and bring them up' (to Rockhampton).
'Tony (Gollan) talks about the Stradbroke for Transatlantic, well this is the grand final for my horse. We're hitting it third-up and he peaks at his third-up run.'
The Ricky Vale-trained Rockhampton gelding Namazu won The Archer last year at juicy odds of $16 and Walsh is desperate to keep the trophy in the city in his first attempt at the rich slot race.
'It was won by a local horse last year whose form probably wasn't good enough to win the race,' Walsh said.
'To be able to be done a second time would prove a bit of a point that maybe horses don't travel so well from Sydney or aren't 100 per cent set for the race.
'It'd be a great achievement to win because it's the greatest race we have in Rocky now. It's probably bigger than the (Rockhampton) Newmarket and the cup.'
Walsh sees Transatlantic and Sandpaper as the biggest threats to his Archer dream becoming reality.
'They're both drawn soft (barriers two and three) and should get a lovely run,' he said.
'If Sandpaper can travel up well from Sydney then he's definitely one of the main dangers.'
Lang rode Hell to third place in the sprinter's last start, a 1200m open handicap at Eagle Farm in early April, with the winner Compelling Truth franking the form with victory in Thursday's $200,000 Wagga Town Plate (1200m).
Originally published as Rockhampton trainer Nick Walsh hellbent on winning The Archer trophy for the locals
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