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By Ray Hickson

It seems the serenity of the Clarence River is agreeing with eight-year-old gelding Wild Chap but trainer Tony Newing says the real test will come if there’s no rain leading into Wednesday’s $45,000 Tatts Hotel Great Northern Inverell Cup (1400m).

Newing is Wild Chap’s sixth trainer and only took on the horse from Jake Hull earlier this month but had instant success as he snapped a 27 month run of outs winning the Christmas Cup at Lismore on December 20.

His previous success was the Group 3 Cameron Handicap at Newcastle in 2022.

The breakthrough win came just over a month after he failed to beat a runner home in the Snake Gully Cup and Newing said he simply concentrated on freshening up Wild Chap’s mind.

“We were on a hiding to nothing but when you have older horses like that if you can spark an old flame it helps,’’ he said.

“He was a fantastic (at Lismore), I guess that’s the weakest race he’d been in for a couple of years.

“We swim our horses a lot, we swim them in the river not a pool. They go on a float ride each morning for a couple of minutes to get there, on the Clarence River, and it gives them something else to look at instead of the racetrack all the time.

Wild Chap wins at Lismore on December 20

“He doesn’t need to learn anything, he knows how to gallop, he just has to enjoy it again. He’s a very fit horse, there’s no maths to it, and we’re just keeping him happy.”

Wild Chap carries 62.5kg in the Inverell Cup and Newing said the forecast for about 10mm in an overnight storm leading into the Inverell Cup meeting could be crucial to his chances as he’s wary the gelding has a poor record on good tracks.

But he’s not ruling out the possibility that the horse has been rejuvenated.

In winning at Lismore, jockey Matthew McGuren was able to settle Wild Chap just off the speed and he responded to that more conservative racing style.

“He’s 28 for one on a good track and that tells you a lot,’’ Newing said.

“His winning chances will come down to the track on the day. If the track is hard then you’re just banking on him building confidence out of his win last start.

“One of the main things we set out to achieve the other day was to ride him to fill him with confidence.

“It’ll be the same, he won’t be driven out of the gates to hold any sort of spot and he’ll just land where he’s comfortable.

“It doesn’t matter where that is as long as he’s allowed to build underneath himself so when he’s ready to go he does go.

“He doesn’t appreciate high pressure for too long. When he’s asked to do a lot he folds.”

Last year's Inverell Cup winner Cassia Lane returns on Wednesday to defend her title, and will be chasing her own breakthrough having not won a race in 11 starts since that victory to start 2024.

All the fields, form and replays for Wednesday’s Inverell meeting