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By Greg Prichard

Taree trainers will provide more than half of the field and several decent chances at good odds in the feature event on their home track at the Manning Valley Race Club meeting on Friday.

Wayne Wilkes, Glen Milligan and Tony Ball will each have two runners and Karen Owen one in the 12-horse field to contest the $35,000 Hopkins-Livermore Cup over 1405m.

Our Bambino ($10 on TAB), to be ridden by the vastly experienced Andrew Gibbons, will be racing second-up from a spell for Wilkes and King Kikau (Teighan Worsnop, $18) first-up for the same trainer.

Run Rory Run (Mollie Fitzgerald; blinkers) wins narrowly at Coffs Harbour. Image by Trackside Photography

The Milligan-trained pair, Swamp Nation (Jon Grisedale, $21) and Golden Honour (Matthew Bennett, $9), have each had plenty of recent racing and so have Ball’s runners, Run Rory Run (Leanne Boyd, $10) and Xtra Approval (Winona Costin, $34).

Owen’s Seething Seb ($34) will be ridden by her daughter, Madeline Owen.

The Taree track surface was rated as a Heavy 10 on Thursday afternoon and with the weather being unsettled, genuine wet-trackers are going to have a distinct advantage at the meeting.

Among the Taree-trained horses in the cup, six of the seven have each won more than one race in heavy going.

Seething Seb has won one race on a heavy track, but the six-year-old gelding’s other seven starts in the heavy have registered zero wins or placings.

Ball was the most bullish trainer, since Run Rory Run is an accomplished wet-tracker.

“Run Rory Run drops a lot of kilos in weight from his recent runs,” Ball said. “So does Xtra Approval.

"They’re obviously up in class a bit, but they both look good and they’re working well so I’m very optimistic about sending them around.

“’Rory’ is always a chance when it’s heavy and Xtra Approval will be suited by Winona Costin. If you let him fall out of the gates he can switch off and lose interest, but she’ll make him work.”

Wilkes said King Kikau was “a bit big in condition and will probably need the run”, but that Our Bambino was a good chance if he can handle the heavy track.

“Our Bambino ran second on a heavy track at his first run for our stable, but he’d hardly done anything on heavy tracks before that so I need to see more to convince me,” he said. “He’s a very good chance if he can get through it OK.”

Milligan said Golden Honour faced a challenge with the rise in class but was in good form, while Swamp Nation needed to improve considerably on her recent performances.

“Golden Honour’s had a couple of recent wins, but in weaker class,” Milligan said.

"He likes the wet, but he had a seven-hour round trip in the truck to the Muswellbrook meeting on Monday that was washed out just as we arrived. I’m hoping there’s not a hangover from that with him.”

Owen said the heavy track would likely make it difficult for Seething Seb to excel. “He’s OK in the heavy, but he’s better off if it’s no worse than soft,” she said.

*Gates open at 11.45am. First race 12.30pm. Admission $10 and $5 concession.

Winning Post Function Centre open with the Turf Bistro. Full bar, TAB and bookmaker facilities. Visit facebook - Manning Valley Race Club for more information.

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