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By Ray Hickson

Around a year ago when Clint Lundholm was looking for the ideal Country Championships horse he called champion jockey Hugh Bowman for his opinion on a maiden Godolphin galloper called Amulet Street.

Trainer Clint Lundholm.

Bowman had only limited exposure to the gelding but whatever he said went a long way to convincing the Dubbo trainer that he was on the right track so he snapped the horse up.

At the time there was even a thought about Bowman riding the horse when he made it to the $150,000 Newhaven Park Western Districts Country Championships (1400m) at Coonamble.

As fate would have it, Amulet Street will front up on Sunday in the race he was purchased to target with Bowman on top to complete the job.

“He knew the horse, I actually contacted him when he was up for sale and had a chat,’’ Lundholm said.

“He laughed about it back then saying ‘hopefully I’m talking to you about him for the Championships in 12 months’.

“He has a great connection with (part-owner) Paul Frampton and it’s worked out really well that he can jump on his horse and have a big chance in this race.”

Amulet Street is one of five horses Lundholm will saddle up in the Western Districts Country Championships back on his old home turf, the others are defending champ Activation along with Ferus, Watch Me Rumble and Avalicious.

Since joining the stable, Amulet Street has recorded two wins and two seconds. He was beaten first-up at Gilgandra but since then has gone from strength to strength, with wins at Tamworth and Walcha, and Lundholm isn’t about to knock him for bumping into Ezekeil in his latest start at Quirindi.

“His prep has been very good. We knew he’d come on from Gilgandra then he came out and won his next two,’’ he said.

“To be beaten by a handy horse like Ezekeil, who started second favourite in the hunter district championship but failed on the wet track, it was a good effort.”

Bowman is likely to have control of how the four-year-old navigates barrier 12 because as Lundholm says – “I’m not telling one of the world’s best jockeys how to ride him”.

He tuned up for Coonamble with a barrier trial win at Dubbo just over a week ago and there’s an air of confidence about him.

“His trial at Dubbo was phenomenal. We’ve got hopes we’ll be going to Randwick with him in three weeks time,’’ Lundholm said.

Activation has been there and done that and Lundholm believes he has him in the right place to defend his Country Championships title, and join Another One as a dual winner of a regional feature.

But the form guide will show since his impressive Dubbo win on January 31 he was beaten over 10 lengths by Amulet Street in a trial there last week, there was a reason for it and the trainer says that performance is not a pointer.

“Two starts back when we took him to Sydney he got beaten a fair way and we brought him home and there were a few issues across the muscles in his back and across the hamstrings,’’ he said.

“We were able to fix him up and he went to Dubbo and won the open race really well. He was worked on straight after the trial and he looks like he’s in fine shape.”

The five-year-old was trained by Kody Nestor when he won the race in 2021, since Lundholm has taken the reins everything has been pointed towards a defence.

He’s was $2.60 favourite with TAB on Saturday and while he’d prefer to be able to swap gates with Amulet Street, the trainer said he couldn’t be happier.

“The plan was to place him to still be able to target the Championships,’’ he said.

“When he won that race at Dubbo we got him back to form, I knew the horse was going well and we elected to give him two trials so he didn’t win another race and have to carry 59kg.

Amulet Street runs second at Quirindi on February 18

“That will give him every opportunity to go back to back.”

Former Victorian galloper Ferus could be the dark horse of the Lundholm quintet, he made his NSW debut with a solid third behind Great Buy at Mudgee, drops 4.5kg and has all the upside.

“He sat three wide outside the speed and boxed on really well,’’ he said.

“It was a tune up run for him to see how he measured up against a nice field.

“He’s trained on and he’s suited to the 1400m, he’s going to be up on speed and has a nice alley. He’s going to be a definite chance.”

He said three-year-old filly Watch Me Rumble impressed with her easy win in a Benchmark 58 at Dubbo a month ago, and in her trial behind Amulet Street, and could show up without surprising while it’s a bit of a throw at the stumps with Avalicious.

All the fields, form and replays for Sunday's Country Championships meeting at Coonamble