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By Ray Hickson

It’s a case of third time lucky for Amicus Curiae but when he finally heads to Randwick for the Newhaven Park Country Championships Final his trainer Mack Griffith is confident he’s taking a mature horse with a live chance.

The Mudgee trainer gave Amicus Curiae a shot at the Central Districts Championships in both 2021 and 2022, with Hugh Bowman riding, and he finished eighth in each but it all came together in his final attempt.

Trainer Mack Griffith (centre) and connections of Amicus Curiae (Pic: Janian McMillan)

The five-year-old is the third horse Griffith has prepared to win the $150,000 Newhaven Park Central Districts Country Championships (1400m) following Binalong Road in the inaugural year 2015 and Pera Pera in 2016.

“The other two are very good horses who went on to win multiple races,’’ Griffith said.

“This horse has always shown a stack of ability.

"He won his first two starts so he had the ability there but as he got into harder grades he couldn’t do it on ability, he had to learn his craft.

“He wasn’t mentally there, this year he was there.”

Jockey Mitchell Bell, who won the inaugural Country Championships Final on Artlee, had to get it right from an awkward alley, even with the track playing down the outside, to bring off a plan carefully plotted by Griffith.

Amicus Curiae ($8) came with a well timed run to score by three-quarters of a length over Possibly So ($16), trained at Bathurst by Andrew Ryan and who also qualifies for the Final, with De Forerunner faring the best of Dean Mirfin’s quintet ($5) in third.

“His last two preps he’s won third-up over 1400m,’’ Griffith said.

“It was his 20th start so any more starts and he couldn’t go in it. It’s a long plan, and a gem of a ride from Mitchell Bell.

“We won’t over race him, he goes a bit better fresh even though it is 1400m. We’ll sit back and cruise home between now and (the Final).”

The gelding is a $34 chance with TAB having qualified for the Final but that market will be shaken right up after next Sunday’s Hunter & North West edition.

Bell said the race panned out for him as well as could be expected and the horse always travelled nicely for him.

“He didn’t have all the luck in the world but was able to get the job done easily,’’ he said.

“We always thought there was going to be really good speed, the biggest field of the day generally pumps a bit of speed into the race.

“After they went about 300m they sorted themselves out and just went steady. We were just posted and I knew we had to travel and travel good.”

Amicus Curiae wins Central Districts Country Championships

Possibly So’s jockey Anthony Cavallo, who won the Central Districts event last year on Zoo Station, said the four-year-old is still learning but has a ‘fluker’s hope’ when he gets to Randwick.

“He’s still a big baby really but every race there’s improvement,’’ he said.

“This time next year I said to the boys if he hasn’t had his 20 starts he’ll be a better horse then but it’s hard to hold onto them for 12 months.”

All the results and replays from Sunday’s Country Championships meeting at Mudgee