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By Ray Hickson

Trainer Kris Lees found the right horse to take out the inaugural Big Dance and there’s a sense lightly raced import Spangler could be an ideal candidate for when the second edition is staged in November.

The grey is one of two Lees combatants, the other Cristal Breeze, in Friday’s $65,000 Cherry Street Sports Club Ballina Cup (1590m), a Big Dance eligible race, and he strikes stable rep Danny Greer as an ideal type for the $2 million feature.

Lees won the Ballina Cup last year with Kedah and the mare ran a respectable tenth in the main event behind her stablemate Rustic Steel.

Spangler is heading to Ballina on the back of a close third over the Randwick mile on December 17 and Greer said if he can get around the Ballina track successfully and win it would set him up for the rest of the year.

“He’s at that point where a mile is about the distance range he’ll be most effective,’’ he said.

“Should he qualify for the Big Dance that race looks appealing for him later in the year.

“Last start his run was huge, and although he hasn’t drawn ideally it’s a little better than it was last start so maybe he doesn’t have to get as far back in the run.

Spangler runs third at Randwick on December 17

“Certainly he’ll be spotting them a start but he looks a progressive horse and it looks a nice race for him.”

It could potentially be significant that two starts ago Spangler was able to negotiate Canterbury and score a powerhouse win over the 1550m.

“He got around Canterbury fine, once he balanced up in the straight he reeled off some really good sectionals,’’ Greer said.

“If he gets a similar sort of run, where he can get a bit of room at the top of the straight, he’ll be doing his best work the last 200m.”

While Spangler is a horse on the way up, 2021 Provincial Championships winner Cristal Breeze is battling for some consistency and Greer said it’s up to the seven-year-old to find touch again.

The gelding, whose last win was on the synthetic track at the Sunshine Coast, ran a promising third in the Mudgee Sprint (1200m) second-up but faded to be beaten 11 lengths by Kanazawa at Randwick on Christmas Eve.

“He can mix his form a bit of late but at his best he is a horse that can put himself on the pace and around Ballina that could suit,’’ Greer said.

“If he could find his best form again he’ll be competitive.

“For him it’s about finding that economical run in the race, he has a nice strong rider on board to help so he gets all the advantages there but he definitely has to step up on what he did last start.”

Brodie Loy rides Cristal Breeze while Andrew Mallyon has the ride on Spangler.

All the fields, form and replays for Friday's Ballina Cup meeting