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By Ray Hickson

There’s something to be said for striking while the iron’s hot and trainer Joe Pride is hoping in-form galloper Redwood Shadow can book a Big Dance berth for 2023 through Sunday’s $65,000 TAB Nowra Cup (1600m).

While the second running of the $2 million feature at Randwick is still 11 months in the future, Pride said he suspects the gelding is still some time away from hitting his ceiling so being qualified early for a race like the Big Dance, or its consolation the $500,000 Little Dance, has some appeal.

“They are both good prizemoney races and he’s the sort of horse I think next preparation he’ll be better again and maybe up to that kind of grade,’’ Pride said.

“If we get him qualified now it saves the rush for next year.”

It’ll be Redwood Shadow’s eighth start, since mid-July, in his first preparation for Pride and the trainer believes his winning form has coincided with the disappearance of heavy tracks in the past six weeks or so.

His first three runs for Pride were on heavy tracks and he finished third in each. He said he’s learned to space the horse’s runs and the Nowra Cup comes up three weeks after his success in the last race at Newcastle’s The Hunter meeting on November 12.

“He hasn’t really done anything wrong in the time he’s been here,’’ he said.

Redwood Shadow wins at Newcastle on November 12

“He took a little while to break through but we might put that down to the really wet tracks he ran on, I think they were hampering him for a while.

“The feedback I was getting from the riders was that they weren’t suiting him so it wasn’t a hard decision to keep going.

“He has three weeks between runs which is a pattern with him that seems to be suiting him as I’ve started spacing his runs.”

Redwood Shadow was the $3.60 favourite with TAB, on Saturday, for the Nowra Cup and that tells Pride that he’s found the right progression after taking out Benchmark 72 and 78 races at his past two starts.

Tyler Schiller has the ride at Nowra and while drawn out Pride hopes the speed on paper materialises after the gates open.

“I’ve got a lot of options with him, this was one of quite a few and when I nominated I thought it was pretty attractive and looked a winnable race,’’ he said.

“I think he’s early favourite so you figure when you’re in the market like that you’ve found the right race and he’ll take his place.

“It was a good win at Newcastle in Benchmark 78 grade, I don’t know how you line that up with a Nowra Cup but he looks to have as good a form line as anything in the race.

“There should be good speed on and I think that will really suit him.”

As it was in 2022, first and second in the Nowra Cup earn eligibility for the Big Dance. Second and third are eligible for the Little Dance.

All the fields, form and replays for Sunday’s Nowra meeting