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By Greg Prichard

Bathurst trainer Dean Mirfin couldn’t risk Island Press running in another race in case he won and became ineligible for the Newhaven Park Country Championships, but he’s convinced a slashing barrier trial win has made the four-year-old gelding’s preparation complete.

Trainer Dean Mirfin (Pic: Bradley Photos)

Mirfin has entered five horses for the $150,000 CDRA qualifier over 1400 metres at Mudgee on Sunday and Island Press is the best performed, with five wins from 18 starts.

Another win would’ve put him beyond the Class 5 limit for the series, but Mirfin got what he wanted in terms of performance when Island Press easily won an open-class barrier trial over 1008 metres at his home track last week.

“Robbie Dolan rode him in the trial and afterwards he said we’re right on track with the horse,” Mirfin said.

“He’s a high benchmark horse that has already won two open handicaps, which is good credentials for a Country Championships.

“He trialled beautifully. We couldn’t have been happier with the way he went around, so we’re very excited about his prospects.”

Mirfin is a very astute operator who doesn’t get carried away when he’s having a winning run nor panic when the winners aren’t coming.

Often that will come down to which of his horses are in work and which are out spelling and he has made sure most of his better gallopers are around at the moment.

It remains to be seen whether he starts all five in the race - De Forerunner, Arimathea, Astrolith and Scopics are the others entered - but he’s definitely going to have strength in numbers.

The winner and second placegetter will both qualify for the $500,000 Newhaven Park Country Championships Final over 1400m at Randwick on April 1.

“You’ve got to start planning for it at least six months out,” Mirfin said.

“The challenge for a small stable like ours is to try to take advantage of that prizemoney and the owners are looking for the TAB Highway races, the Country Championships and the Kosciuszko.

“They’re all fantastic initiatives and we’ve got to try to get our finger into that pie.

"Every country trainer in every region targets these races for the prestige of trying to not only win a heat but have a runner that’s competitive when they’re racing for big money in the final in Sydney.

“Our owners want that to happen and of course we do too as trainers.

“We’ve been fortunate enough to get to the final with three horses in the past. It was pretty exciting to do that and we’re looking to give ourselves the best chance of being represented again.”

Mirfin said Island Press compared well with the horses he had previously managed to qualify for the final.

“He’s going to have to carry more weight than the others, but he’s a really nice horse and we’re looking forward to running him,” he said.

Island Press wins at Parkes on January 21

“He’s a horse that has been targeted for this race for almost a year, but after his last-start win at Parkes we couldn’t afford to win another race ahead of it. The barrier trial was great for him though.

“Island Press and De Forerunner would be my top two seeds. De Forerunner’s had four runs back and raced well each time. He’s looking for the 1400.

“Scopics has got a bit of the unknown factor about him. He’s done well, but is still only lightly raced. Arimathea and Astrolith each probably need to pick up their game a bit, but both are talented horses at their best.”

All the entries, form and replays for Sunday's Country Championships meeting at Mudgee