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By Ray Hickson

If speedy mare Bomarea is going to run out a strong 1200m then trainer Marc Quinn says it will happen in Sunday’s $150,000 Evergreen Turf Mid North Coast Country Championships on her home track at Port Macquarie.

Trainer Marc Quinn (Pic: Bradley Photos)

Whether she can run 1400m in the $1 million Final at Randwick is something he’ll worry about if Bomarea fills a top two position.

It’ll be the first time since 2019 that Port Macquarie has hosted the race and comes on the back of a widely lauded multi-million dollar redevelopment of the racecourse which was completed last year.

Quinn said he’s meticulously planned Bomarea’s build up to Sunday’s race and trained her differently to give her the best chance of maintaining her unbeaten first-up record at a distance she’s yet to win over.

And he’s taking advantage of Port Macquarie being the only host venue in the Mid North Coast that doesn’t have 1400m start, which is the distance of every other regional Championships plus the Final.

“She’s been in since the first of November purely with one aim of having her ready to 1200m first-up on Sunday,’’ Quinn said.

“If it had have been Taree or Tuncurry I probably wouldn’t have considered it. It’s just right being six furlongs at home.

“It was just too nice a race at home to not target.”

Bomarea was considered for the Country Championships last year after she scored a runaway Highway win over 1000m at Randwick but she didn’t back the performance up at her only attempt at 1200m a couple of weeks later.

That race was won by Gallant Star who went on to finish second in the Country Championships Final in 2024 and is one of the favourites for this year’s edition.

Wary that Bomarea hasn’t run a place in five starts beyond 1000m he said a slower build up that has included two trials, utilising a couple of gear changes, was required and he feels she’s responding.

“She did an extra two weeks of slow work before starting pacework then I had to do something with her because she was starting to feel too well,’’ Quinn said.

“She did an extra week of three-quarter pace before she started galloping. She’s had some lovely gallops on the course proper leading into the first trial.

“I purposely trialled her at Port with a pair of ear muffs on to keep a lid on her, they did the trick.

“Then when she trialled on Sunday I took them off. When the blinkers come on she’s all racehorse. The two trials are exactly what I wanted to do, her fitness is perfect.”

There’s no doubt from Quinn, who won the 2024 Mid North Coast Country Championships at Tuncurry with Auzstar, that Bomarea has the right scenario to be effective at the 1200m.

Mikayla Weir has the ride and she’ll carry just 55.5kg despite being clearly the highest rated horse in the race and, importantly as far as he’s concerned, she’s had experience in open company.

“She’s humming, she’s going really well,’’ he said.

“She’s an easy horse to get a handle on, she doesn’t play her cards close to her chest.

“They can’t talk but you have to know how to read their book, she’s an open book and she comes to hand very quickly. That’s why I’ve given her a longer foundation before I run her than normal.

Bomarea runs second in the Kirby Quality at Grafton in July

“A lot of the young horses in this race haven’t been in a dogfight, in real high pressure races, and she’s weighted so well under the conditions of the race.”

First and second at Port Macquarie will advance to the $1 million Evergreen Turf Country Championships Final (1400m) at Randwick on April 5.

All the entries, form and replays ahead of Sunday's Country Championships meeting at Port Macquarie