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By Greg Prichard

Albury trainer and astute judge Donna Scott will take four runners to the $150,000 Evergreen Turf SDRA Country Championships and she explained her decision to go first-up from a spell with each of them.

Trainer Donna Scott

Villasaurus ($5.50 with TAB) is her top seed for the 1400-metre race at Wagga on Saturday, but she’s confident all of her representatives - Alfred The Great, Wings Of Carmen and Imposing Tallulah are the others - will run well.

“It’s just how it panned out as what will suit each of them best for this race,” Scott said.

“I was happy enough to trial instead of going to the races and just do what I wanted to do with them in the trials to get them right.

“Race-day is always a different sort of pressure and this way I could make sure I had them spot-on.

“A lot has changed with the technology you can use these days to get a very good read on how you’re horse is going.

“We now have E-Trakka and other forms of data that give you a much better guide to a horse’s fitness and what you need to do to get them where you want them.

“After taking everything into consideration we just thought going first-up was the best option for each of them.”

Four-year-old gelding Villasaurus won a Class 3 TAB Highway Handicap first-up over 1400 metres at Rosehill on November 2.

He only had two runs that time in before being given a break with the Country Championships in mind.

Three-year-old gelding Wings Of Carmen ($34) has also won first-up over 1400, in a Country Maiden at Albury on October 12.

So that obviously made the decision to go first-up with those two horses easier.

Five-year-old gelding Arthur The Great ($11) is yet to win beyond 1200 metres, while four-year-old mare Imposing Tallulah ($151) is a versatile type that has won over distances ranging from 1175 to 1675.

“Villasaurus and Wings Of Carmen will definitely be getting out over a mile and up to 2000 metres, so you want to have them a bit fresh for 1400-metre races,” Scott said.

“Arthur The Great has got a super record. The only thing against him is he’s not proven at the 1400, but I’ve always said he’s a genuine 1400-to-1600 horse if I could get him to settle and he’s improved in that area.

“Imposing Tallulah is experienced enough now and everyone wants to have a runner in the Country Championships and her owners are no different.

“So we nominated her not being sure she’d get a start, but she did. She races on-pace and she’s definitely fit enough and she’ll be thereabouts.

“She might not be the quality of the other three, but she’s honest and this race only comes around once a year so if you can get a horse in you may as well have a crack at it.”

Unfortunately for Scott her horses mostly fared badly at the barrier draw, with Villasaurus the worst affected as he’ll have to come from the extreme outside in a field of 16.

But the trainer naturally has confidence in leading country jockey Nick Heywood to make the draw not so bad with a good ride.

“It’s just the way it goes,” she said. “It’s something we’ll sit down and try to map out a bit, but Wagga’s a great track with a long back straight so we’ll get every chance.

“You can have a plan, but you’ve got to remain flexible and Nick will know the right thing to do once they jump and he gets a feel for it.

“I imagine him being midfield or close to that. We’ll hope he can get across with cover if he’s in the three-wide line. You don’t want to go right back, it’s not being competitive and in this class of race you can’t be negative.”

Villasaurus wins at Rosehill in November

The TAB market opened with Burrandana, which has drawn well in barrier three, as the $3.20 favourite and Villasaurus next at $7.

Scott said at the time she was surprised the pair weren’t closer in the market and punters must’ve thought there was good value in Villasaurus at those odds as well because the gap soon closed.

Burrandana firmed as well, but only fractionally, to $3.10.

Scott qualified Bennelong Dancer for three straight Country Championships Finals, from 2018 to ’20, and also got Our Last Cash through in 2023.

She hasn’t been far off achieving the ultimate success, with Bennelong Dancer finishing third and fourth in finals and Our Last Cash fifth.

The first two placegetters in Saturday’s race will qualify for the $1 million Evergreen Turf Country Championships Final over 1400 metres at Randwick on April 5.

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday's Country Championships meeting at Wagga