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By Ray Hickson

Trainer Brett Robb says the only thing that would have made winning the $150,000 Newhaven Park WRA Country Championships at Coonamble with Great Buy better was if his partner Maddy Wright could have been trackside with him.

Brett Robb with his Country Championships trophy. (Pic: Janian McMillan)

Maddy had very good reason not to be there, just four days ago she gave birth to their son Archie.

But she was cheering Great Buy on at home in Dubbo and now Robb can’t believe that in just under three weeks he’ll have a runner in a $500,000 race at Royal Randwick on Day 1 of The Star Championships.

“She wanted to come, I said to some of the boys when we were loading the truck ‘don’t be surprised if she gets in’ but she knew it was too soon,’’ Robb said.

“When she called me after the race I don’t think she stopped crying for 10 minutes. She’s been the backbone of this whole thing.

“I thought it was big when we won the Picnic Championship (with On A Promise at Coonamble in September) but this is a different feeling. That was a $50,000 race and it took Maddy and I a week to get over that. I don’t know if it’s sunk in.”

It’s safe to say with a Country Championships win under the belt Great Buy has redeemed himself in Robb’s eye. The full story’s already been told but it’s worth a recap.

He was once called Yulong Savings and was selected by Robb’s sister Jodi Kilmartin from an online sale just under two years ago, he cost $25,000 and the trainer admits he wasn’t a fan at the time and wanted to buy a horse called Camp Rifle.

As he was being prepared for last year’s Country Championships series he threw Robb out of the saddle and bolted before crashing into a gate post and cutting his shoulder. He didn’t perform to expectation in that entire preparation but in 2022 he’s had no such trouble.

“I’ve got to thank my sister, when I first got my license I didn’t have any good horses and they went and paid $25,000 for him. That was a lot of money for me,’’ Robb said.

“She spent hours on those sales looking for the right one. He wasn’t the one I wanted, she went against me and bought him.

“Then he threw me and went over a fence and I didn’t like him even more. But this is amazing.”

Jockey Michael Heagney wasted no time in crossing from the wide gate on Great Buy and Robb was surprised that once he found the fence there was little competition.

After a short battle with the Clint Lundholm-trained favourite Amulet Street ($3.60) the five-year-old held a two length margin at the end of the 1400m and they were three lengths clear of Ferus ($6) in third.

“We had another horse in the race and he was a go forward horse too and we didn’t want to take each other on,’’ Robb said.

“I said to Mick I think he’s got enough speed to cross them but don’t ride the ears off him early. He did it a lot easier than I thought he would, I thought he was a good chance but he did it quite easy and he ran a bit of time.”

After the win Great Buy firmed to $26 for the $500,000 Newhaven Park Country Championships Final (1400m) at Randwick on April 2 while Amulet Street is $34.

Robb said he knows it’s going to be a bigger ask but he’ll head there with a horse racing in peak form and hopes he can draw well to give himself every chance.

“Looking at the field you think the horses out of this field are going to struggle but the way he won he’s worth taking,’’ he said.

“He runs on pretty much anything, don’t know if he likes it real heavy but he goes on soft and he’s a good traveller as well.”

Great Buy wins the Country Championships at Coonamble

Fellow Dubbo trainer Clint Lundholm achieved his goal of qualifying Amulet Street for the Final and regardless of what happens at Randwick he says the lightly raced gelding is a horse of the future.

Hugh Bowman followed the winner across to land on the speed and Lundholm said he couldn’t have asked for anything else.

“The horse went super. Hugh gave him every possible chance, the other horse was just better,’’ he said.

“He was probably spot on today, he’s only young and we’ve got plenty of racing left in him.”

He said last year’s winner Activation will head to the paddock, he didn’t appear to be travelling at any stage in the race and only managed to beat two horses home.

All the results and replays from Sunday’s Country Championships meeting at Coonamble