Trainer Sue Grills has been the leading trainer at Coonabarabran in recent years and we are sticking with the strength identifying our best bet on Coonabarabran Cup Day on Monday.
Grills has trained seven winners from 25 starters since January 2013 at Coonabarabran for a winning strike rate of 28 percent and a 54 percent profit on turnover.
Our remaining best bets come up in the day's feature races, the $45,000 Coonabarabran Bowling Club Coonabarabran Cup (1600m) and the $25,000 Regional Australia Bank/Ausure Insurance Cup Day Sprint (1100m).
THE GUN (Race 3 No 5) .
The Grills stable is represented by The Gun in the Max Hawkins Memorial/Marc Hawkins Electrical/Tim Evans Maiden Plate (900m) who comes out of a strong maiden at Muswellbrook when resuming from a 339-day break between races.
The race was won by the Paul Messara-trained Rekindled Force who remained unbeaten on Saturday winning a benchmark 64 by three-lengths at Newcastle whilst the second horse Kettering finished fourth at Canterbury in his subsequent outing.
Add to that the sixth horse Penny Dreadful winning at Port Macquarie on October 20 and we have the makings of a solid form race.
The Gun would only need to repeat the last-start effort to be winning at Coonabarabran and it is reasonable to assume there is still scope for improvement second-up after such a long break.
PRINCE MAYTED (Race 6 No 2)
The Colt Prosser-trained Prince Mayted will be chasing back to back wins in the feature sprint after a comfortable two-length victory in the 2016 edition carrying 59kg on a soft (6) track.
Prince Mayted must lump 61.5kg but looks up to the task after drawing the inside gate.
Prince Mayted was a run short at Port Macquarie resuming in the Port Macquarie Sprint won by Oxford Magic and he is a gelding that generally improves with a run under his belt in a preparation.
There is little doubt connections have targeted Monday's sprint race and will have Prince Mayted primed to win.
RED KNOT (Race 5 No 2)
A significant weight-pull on the other key chances gives the Rod Northam stable the edge in the Coonabarabran Cup.
Red Knot gets in with 54.5kg receiving 6.5kg from the Dubbo Cup winner Brazen and 4.5kg from the consistent Present Sense.
Red Knot's recent form is certainly good enough to win a Country Cup finishing just under three-lengths from the winner in a Highway Handicap at Randwick over the mile last start.
Red Knot has the early speed to cross and lead from the gate and will take plenty of catching with the light weight.
