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By Ray Hickson

Popular trainer Barbara Joseph has her sights firmly on the Bega Cup later this month with consistent mare One Aye but is hoping she can pick up a city win at Rosehill on Saturday along the way.

Trainer Barbara Joseph (Pic: Bradley Photos)

There’s no shortage of options for the four-year-old in the coming months including the $150,000 Newhaven Park South East Country Championships (1400m) at Nowra on February 13 and $150,000 Canberra Mile at the end of February.

But Joseph, along with training partner sons Paul and Matt Jones, are keen on the $80,000 Bega Cup (1600m) on January 30 and she said the Fujitsu General Handicap (1500m) at Rosehill is a perfect stepping stone.

“She can definitely handle the sting out of the ground, I think it is a great race for her,’’ Joseph said.

“We were very happy with her work (Thursday morning) and Quayde (Krogh) is riding her so well and that’s why he’s coming to ride her again.

“She’s going really well. We’ve planned to run her in the Bega Cup and if she is still eligible we could freshen her up for the Country Championships.

“You need a horse that can run a strong mile to win one of those Championships.”

One Aye, $4.80 with TAB on Thursday, has won four races 13 starts so can still win one more race and remain eligible for the Country Championships but it seems that race is more an option than a target for the Joseph Jones team.

The mare has been placed in her past three starts, including the Mudgee Cup on a soft 7 track, and was closing fast when third behind Nothinsweetaboutme at Randwick on Boxing Day.

She clocked a last 600m of 35.04 (Punter's Intelligence) which was just 0.04 outside the race best.

“Looking from the TV it looked like she got second, it wouldn’t have wanted to be a couple of strides more,’’ she said.

“She showed us plenty from when we first bought her and got her going. We bought the half sister last year by Deep Field then Max Whitby bought the mare with a Showtime colt on her.

“We’ll probably ride her exactly the same as the other day, a couple of pairs back and get a position to get a run at them.

“But you can have her wherever you want her, she’s pretty adaptable.”

Quayde Krogh made the move from the Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott stable to the south on December 1 and his partnership with the Joseph Jones stable is proving to be a success.

Joseph has plenty of faith in the 30-year-old who wanted to kick start his riding career again after being largely a trackwork rider in recent times.

One Aye runs third at Randwick on December 26

He also rides stablemate She’s All In and Joseph is expecting a return to form in the Precise Air Handicap (1500m) after she felt the mare failed to run out the extra distance last start.

The Nowra Cup winner didn’t beat a runner home behind Dhakuri but returns to mares company and a wet track.

“A wet track is going to help her a lot. She just over raced at the 1800m and that’s what brought her undone,’’ Joseph said.

“She was only beaten three lengths or so and if she had have settled better she’d have been right. She’ll be up there on the pace or leading.”

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday's Rosehill meeting