Trainers and owners with horses based in the Central Racing District had their chance to qualify a runner at Mudgee on March 3, in the $500,000 Newhaven Park Country Championships Final.
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The final, which will be held on Saturday, April 6 at Royal Randwick includes the first and second place runners from each of the seven districts, which make up country racing in NSW.
The winner of the qualifier, Soul Secrets trained by Cameron Crockett, was one of six starters for the young trainer with his other charges filling the top eight.
Only the Gayna Williams runner Noel’s Gift and I Am Capitan trained by Dean Mirfin from Bathurst, prevented a clean sweep by the Crockett Racing Stables.
Connections of Noel’s Gift, who is also trained at Mudgee and was runner-up for the second year in a row, are pleased to be heading back to Sydney and hoping to have better luck this year.
Meanwhile, it was the men’s fashions which generated the loudest cheers from the crowd on the day. NRL players Tevita Tatola and Dane Gagai from South Sydney were clearly the crowd favourites when lining up for the fashion judges, South Sydney prop Tom Burgess and SKY Racing's Chantelle Buckley.
