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By Ray Hickson

There’s already one Grafton Cup on trainer Sally Taylor’s record and if rejuvenated galloper Mindspace can continue his swift rise at Murwillumbah on Sunday he’ll earn the chance to be pointed at the region’s premier staying race.

Trainer Sally Taylor (Pic: Trackside)

It’s fair to say Mindspace has come a long way in his six starts for the Coffs Harbour trainer who has transformed him from a disinterested horse into a winner of three of his past four.

The gelding started out at Randwick with Mark Newnham and knocked over his maiden at start three but lost all form in the spring of last year.

“I have another horse with the main owner/breeder of him and they were kind of at a wit’s end with him,’’ Taylor, who won the Grafton Cup with Rednav in 2016, said.

“He showed a lot of promise and there were hopes he might go to city class in his first two preps with Mark Newnham. When Mark left the country they moved him and he lost 10 lengths and just didn’t want to be a racehorse anymore.

“Looking at his form I was a little bit worried. His first two runs for me were a bit disappointing but I knew they were just runs and he needed to get fit to get over his distance.

“When I took him to Armidale (on April 15) I thought he’d be hard to beat but I didn’t think he’d go on with it the way he has.”

Mindspace won by over five lengths on a heavy track at Coffs Harbour a few weeks ago, earning him a shot at the Club Tweed Grafton Cup Preview (2020m).

Taylor said a winter good track at Murwillumbah should be suitable for the four-year-old, she wasn’t sure he’d even handle the heavy last start, and feels it’s up to the horse to prove worthy of heading toward the Grafton Cup.

That would be via the Prelude run at Grafton on July 7.

“If he happened to win impressively, and it’s not an overly strong field so it’s a little hard to take away what he’s up against on Sunday as a guide to what the Grafton Cup would be like,’’ she said.

“It’s something I’ve spoken to the owners about if they were happy to pursue it if he’s going well.

“The horse is flying and his work hasn’t tapered off. He’d beat anything I put with him in a gallop at the moment which is a big statement for a stayer.

“If he keeps going the way he is it’s something I can see giving it a go but there are other races over the carnival as well.”

So what is it that’s turned Mindspace around?

Funnily enough the solution, it seems, is fitting for a horse of that name. It’s all about keeping his mind busy and his body active, so Taylor says, and his work interesting.

“He does most of his work at the beach. He’s been galloped twice at the track this entire preparation,’’ she said.

“On slow days we go out to the farm and do dressage and trail riding, canter up the hills, and keep his mind happy.

“He’s quite an inquisitive, ADHD, type of horse so if you don’t keep him busy he gets very bored very quickly.”

Skyhawk is having his third start for Taylor in the Wright Machinery Handicap (1200m) on the back of a third placing at Moree earlier this month.

Mindspace wins at Coffs Harbour on May 31

She’s pleased with the prospect of dry ground and said while the five-year-old isn’t suited coming back in distance she’s expecting him to show he’s on target for a maiden win.

“He's going well, he needs a good track so I’m glad it’s good up there,’’ she said.

“I’d prefer 1400m for him, the 1200m is probably going to be a bit short but I still think he will run well because he has the conditions to suit.”

All the fields, form and replays for Sunday's Murwillumbah meeting