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By Greg Prichard

The next Taree race meeting on Friday 31 January is set to provide a clear indication of whether Show ‘Em Howl is a legitimate Country Championships contender.

Show ‘Em Howl, trained by Robert Agnew at Port Macquarie, was a very impressive winner at Port on Sunday in the meeting that had to be transferred from Taree because the track surface there was too heavy following recent rain.

It was only Show ‘Em Howl’s third career start, but he won with such authority that there is good reason to believe he could quickly make the rise to Country Championships quality.

Port Macquarie trainer Robert Agnew

Show ‘Em Howl started from the outside barrier in the 14-horse field for the Bakewell Haulage Country Boosted Benchmark 58 Handicap over 1200m and apprentice jockey Anna Roper wisely eased the three-year-old gelding back.

He settled down in second-last place but began making good ground from the middle stages via an inside run as other horses ahead of him were taken wide to make their bids.

Roper steered Show ‘Em Howl into a position to challenge inside the final 200m and he responded beautifully, quickly reeling in the leaders and going on to win by three-quarters of a length as a $6 chance in the betting.

It was Show ‘Em Howl’s second win from three career starts and those two wins have come from his only two starts in this campaign.

“Very raw, very green, but once he got into clear running he put them away nicely,” Agnew said of the win.

“We did a bit of a speed map and it came out there that we had to go back and Anna rode him perfectly and he’s done the job again. He’s a very nice horse with a lot of ability.

“Country championships are around the corner ... like I said he’s very raw, but there’s a 1250-metre Class 4 in two weeks and if he puts them away there he’ll be very hard to beat (in the Country Championships Qualifier).

“He’ll get his chance against the better horses in two weeks and we’ll see where he’s at.”

Agnew was referring to the Country Championships Preview - Class 4 Handicap over 1250m at Taree on January 31. The $150,000 MNCRA Country Championships Qualifier will be run over 1200m at Port Macquarie on February 16.

The first two placegetters in each of the seven qualifying races and the winners of the two wild card events will advance to the $1 million Country Championships Final over 1400m at Randwick on April 5.

Roper agreed Show ‘Em Howl had the potential to kick on to bigger things: “I think he’s a really nice horse,” she said. “He just kept finding. He had to be brave and he really was.

“He (Agnew) has got a really nice horse on his hands and Country Championships probably or a TAB Highway or something like that - he’s a proper nice horse.”

View the full results with race replays for Port Macquarie here