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By Graeme White

Scone trainer Stephen Jones is likely to only target two races next week at the Grafton Cup carnival starting on Sunday.

Hit The Target will be the first of those in the $52,000 Grafton Toyota South Grafton Cup (1608m) where the winner is exempt from penalty for Thursday’s Grafton Cup.

It will only be a one-race trip of over more than five hours for Hit The Target who has been in Grafton since Tuesday in preparation for the prestigious race.

Hit the Target (Matthew Palmer) lands the money at Newcastle. Image by Bradley Photographers

Hit The Target won’t stay on for the Grafton Cup with the trainer mapping out the six-year-old’s schedule to ensure he is at his best.

“You have to plan towards his races so he settles in and my partner (Tracey Rodgers) has had the horse up there for most of the week,” he said.

“The horse always does his best and if the race pans out for him he will be very hard to beat.”

Hit The Target, a son of Uncle Mo with seven wins to his name, has already won $240,000 for Jones and his large syndicate of owners.

The well-named galloper again finds his right level of racing on Sunday where he is the early favourite in a wide-open betting race.

Jockey Leah Kilner will ride Hit The Target for the first time from barrier one.

“The horse has won the Parkes Cup and Bathurst Soldier's Saddle and has been close up in good class races,” Jones said. “The draw is a definite bonus and even though it’s a fair trip from Scone he is well suited even with 60.5 kilos.”

Jones is also considering starting the talented Baby Wong in the feature two-year-old race on Thursday. His strategic placement of his horses all designed to have the right class of horses winning at their level of racing.

He has tried in the past to win some of the features at Grafton with Akasaki contesting the 2018 Ramornie Handicap and last year’s Sir James Kirby. It’s a different galloper and a new race this time with Hit The Target coming off a last start sixth at Newcastle which followed his victory at Parkes.

The race topweight, Jazzland, took out last year’s South Grafton Cup and 12 months earlier was second in the Grafton Cup prelude as a short-priced favourite.

Trainer Kristen Buchanan has given Jazzland two starts in Sydney in preparation for Sunday where he will carry 61kg.

The Grafton circuit is presently rated a Heavy 10 which isn’t ideal for many of the candidates with Hit The Target having finished second at his only start on a similar rated surface.

Texas Storm is a lightweight hope for trainer Bob Milligan with three of his five victories coming on heavy tracks. Gold Coast trained galloper Zigallene is another who will thrive on the heavy track on which he has started three times for two wins.

Jones hopes his planning and timing pay off with another feature country cup: “The horse carries weight well and these country cups and some races in town for him are ideal at this stage,” he said.

“He doesn’t race over much further than a mile so it will be just the one start at Grafton for him.”

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