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By Graeme White

Tenacious and lightly raced galloper Blue Grotto chases three straight victories as he looks to build on his impressive record at Moruya on Sunday.

Limited to just six starts so far, the five-year-old has repaid the patience of his connections with three wins to date and shows no signs of stopping there heading into the Catalina Country Club Class 3 (1010m).

Blue Grotto had to dig deep to prevail at Goulburn on July 7 then rounded out the month with a similar display at Nowra.

Blue Grotto (Nick Heywood) gets the cash at Sapphire Coast. Image by Bradley Photographers

Moruya trainer Jamie Stewart said the rewards had started to flow with Blue Grotto whom he described as a “no fuss horse”

“You would love a few more like him around the stable. He just goes about his business and isn’t a problem to deal with,” he said.

“He was a bit slow maturing plus he had a throat operation and that is why he has only been lightly raced.

“I think he ticks a lot of boxes on Sunday – being in-form, racing on his home track, he likes the sting out of the track and Nick (Heywood) sticks with him.”

Moruya has received some much needed rain over the past week which has the track rated as a Soft 6.

There has been minimal rain at Moruya over the past few months with many trainers stating the track will benefit from approximately 10 mls of rain.

“There is plenty of grass cover as well and the track was very good before the rain so it (rain) will help a bit,” Stewart said.

It’s never easy winning three straight and Blue Grotto faces some worthy opponents most of which are trained at Moruya.

The topweight Selhurst Park has been solid in two starts for new trainer Michael Gatty with a win and third, while Forbes produced a big effort to finish second at his latest run for trainer Greg Backhouse.

Forbes was well off the speed before unleashing a powerful finish to place second and should be at peak fitness following a couple of starts back from a spell.

Rhythmboat is first-up from a break after finishing third at his latest start at Canberra in April and is another of the chances in an evenly graded line-up.

Stewart’s other strong winning chance is Iconic Dame which will start in the South Coast Clubs Cup (1425m). The mare has had two starts since a spell and wasn’t far away when third behind Tulla Park and Fangela at her latest run at Kembla Grange.

Iconic Dame won a Rosehill Highway just over 12 months ago and looks well placed on Sunday despite the strength of the opposition. Napolean Solo produced one of his best ever displays to win at Kembla Grange two starts ago before running eighth in the Forbes Cup.

The topweight Nieces And Nephews was beaten less than a length first-up and has a bit of class on his side as he chases his 10th career victory.

Stewart said Iconic Dame’s best option was Sunday after being nominated for two other races in the past week.

“She goes up to 1400 metres and I would have liked another run over 1200 or 1300 metres, but that shouldn’t be a problem,” he suggested. “She has gate one, a light weight (55kg) and is back to country grade.”

View the final fields with full form & race replays for Moruya here