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By John Schell

Wagga trainer Tim Donnelly will make the trip to Cootamundra on Sunday with the $32,000 Twin Hills Cootamundra Cup the target for talented city winner County Kilkenny.

Donnelly has given County Kilkenny 15 starts with the gelding having won four of them and being placed in another four, amassing more than $130,000 in prizemoney.

Trainer Tim Donnelly (Pic: Bradley Photos)

“The drop back to country grade looks made to order for him,” said Donnelly.

“He didn’t have much luck in the run at Canterbury the other day when he ran sixth and his form in town in his three runs prior was also good with a couple of seconds in Highway company being followed by a heavy track win on the Kensington track.”

Apprentice Molly Bourke has been aboard County Kilkenny in his past three starts, and Donnelly said the jockey was keen to stick with the five-year-old at Cootamundra.

“When Molly rode him the other day I told her I was looking to go to the Cootamundra Cup and she said she wanted to ride him again,” Donnelly said.

“He’s a horse that just keeps improving and I’d like to think he could measure up in better races as he matures a little more.

“He’s a half brother to Waterford and Wicklow, and Wicklow won the Wagga Cup as a five-year-old. I’ll give County Kilkenny this run and then maybe one more and then we will look to the autumn and winter with him.

"He’ll still be five by the time the Wagga Cup comes around in May and while it’s never an easy race to win I think he could be a chance, especially if he was to strike a heavy track.”

Donnelly will have one other runner at Cootamundra with Lunar Shoes set to start in the South West Slopes Bank Country Boosted Benchmark 58 Handicap (1400m) with Mathew Cahill to ride.

“The step up to the 1400m will really suit him,” said Donnelly.

“He’s been racing well with a couple of recent placings and up to the 1400m he should be able to lead and dictate and that being the case he’ll be hard to run down.”

All the fields, form and replays for Cootamundra on Sunday