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Randwick trainer John O’Shea will be hoping it’s a case of second time lucky when he sends Blesk to contest Sunday’s $100,000 Dubbo City Toyota Gold Cup (1600m).

O’Shea had planned to send a runner to Dubbo in 2008 when the cup meeting was abandoned, but believes he has the ideal runner to win the feature event, which is one of the final chances to qualify for November’s $2 million The Big Dance, to be run at Royal Randwick.

Blesk (Kerrin McEvoy) in winning form on the Randwick Kensington Track. Image by Bradley Photographers

Sunday’s race will also be Blesk’s second chance at qualifying for The Big Dance, having finished seventh, beaten 3.2 lengths, behind Hosier in the Coffs Harbour Cup in early August.

“The Big Dance is a great concept and I’ve looked to support it by having runners involved in the qualifiers, and I’m excited to see Blesk go around at Dubbo because I think it’s an ideal race for him,” O’Shea said.

“I was actually going to send a runner to Dubbo a few years back for the Cup, but it got washed out.

“It’s a long way to go but the Cup has great prizemoney, the Big Dance is obviously an incentive, and I think Dubbo will be a great track for Blesk as it’s big and spacious with a long home straight.

“He’s a horse who likes his runs spaced and Sunday will be a bit over five weeks since his run at Coffs. He had a nice tick-over trial a couple of weeks back and his work on the course proper this week suggests to me that he’s feeling good and will run well.”

O’Shea is one of a number of metropolitan and provincial trainers to have runners nominated for the Cup.

“We’ve had the likes of Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, Chris Waller, Annabel Neasham, Bjorn Baker, Gerald Ryan & Sterling Alexiou, Ciaron Maher & David Eustace, and Richard & Will Freedman nominate for the Cup,” said Dubbo Turf Club's General Manager, Sam Fitzgerald.

“We understand it’s a long trip and we may not get all of those stables actually coming out but I’m confident it will be a very competitive race, and the supporting card is also shaping up to be strong, which is a great boost for our club.

“Blowes Clothing, Jade Boutique and Ruby Maine have kindly sponsored Fashions on the Field and provided some fantastic prizes across the three categories – Best Dressed Lady, Best Dressed Gentleman and Best Millinery.”

Tickets for Dubbo Gold Cup Day can be purchased by visiting 123tix.com.au

View the race details for Dubbo here