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It’s only baby steps with three-year-old Brenlyn’s Trooper who will step up to open grade at only his fourth start in the inaugural $25,000 Albury Sprint Classic (1000m) at Albury on Friday.

Albury Racing Club's CEO, Steve Hetherton, is excited with the introduction of the new race: "Albury Racing Club is pleased to add the Albury Sprint Classic to its racing schedule.

Brenlyn's Trooper returns with Jake Duffy after scoring at Wagga

"With the inaugural Albury Sprint Classic Luncheon sold out on the day and solid acceptances across all eight races, it presents a great opportunity to enhance our brand whilst providing a great experience on and off the track during what is traditionally a quiet time of the year."

The promising Brenlyn’s Trooper has only raced three times for wins at Wodonga and Albury, while he finished second behind Moonee Valley winner Yulong Command.

Wodonga trainer Sylvia Thompson is pleased with the direction Brenlyn’s Trooper is heading and decided on the feature race at Albury as his next best option.

“There wasn’t anything else suitable around for him so he has to take on open class early in his career,” she said.

“It’s not ideal, but I do I like the horse and I think in time he is up to better class races.

“It’s early days for him and he is still green and learning. He is a very strong type who takes some handling, but he does have the ability to win more races.”

Brenlyn’s Trooper won his debut at Wodonga in November, followed up with a second at Moonee Valley before resuming with a strong finishing victory at Albury on April 26.

Thompson said the gelding’s owners deserved to have a “good horse” and bred the youngster themselves from the mare, One For The Kids.

“She was unraced, but showed ability and has good breeding. Her previous foal is Benjamery who has won a few and this bloke looks like he will be quite good,” she said.

Experienced jockey Jake Duffy has been aboard Brenlyn’s Trooper in his three starts to date and will ride the galloper from gate one.

The inside alley is a positive for the juvenile who should get the sit on likely leader Bombdiggity who has drawn gate six and has blistering early speed.

Bombdiggity will have the services of the nation’s leading jockey in terms of winners this season, Blaike McDougall, who has a strong association with the flyer.

The five-year-old led when fourth behind The Move at Warwick Farm on April 28 and the return to country class, albeit it with 60.5kg on his back, appears more suitable.

Trainer Scott Collings hopes to win a metropolitan class race with Bombdiggity in time and feels the Albury feature has the right make-up for his sprinter to excel.

“It will take a fast one to try and lead him. He has plenty of speed and fights on well so I expect him to prove hard to beat,” Collings said. “There are a few speedy horses engaged, but I do still expect him to lead.”

One of the “speed” horses is The Unknown Factor which is coming off an impressive last-start victory at Canberra after the big grey raced with throughout.

Trainer Gratz Vella felt The Unknown Factor was working his way back up to a win prior to his last start after an encouraging first-up run in stronger grade at Canberra which followed by a second.

“He raced deep all of the way to win last start and I was impressed with what he did,” he said. “It’s not often they can race wide like that and still win. He is going into this race just as well as what he was before Canberra.

“Hannah Williams will ride him again from a nice draw in four and he will carry only 52.5 kilograms so I expect him to run well.”

Another of the favoured runners is Yeldarb who hasn’t raced since losing his jockey in the Albury City Handicap in late March. Yeldarb has since won a trial at Tatura and is also well placed to run well from barrier five on his best form.

The other main hope is Mr Moppett which has won four of his 11 starts and has also been placed at Warwick Farm and Flemington. The gelding resumed with a win at Swan Hill then ran eighth at Sandown on May 1.

Real Key will resume racing for new trainer Graham Byatt and is a noted first-up performer with two wins from three attempts. In early markets, Yeldarb and Brenlyn’s Trooper are equal favourites with Bombdiggity rated a $5.50 chance.

The Albury track is rated a Soft 7 for the eight-race program.

View the final fields with full form & race replays for Albury here