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By John Curtis

Hawkesbury co-trainer Jason Attard says he loves racing at his home track – and is hoping he loves it even more after Thursday’s meeting.

Attard and his wife and training partner Lucy Keegan-Attard are looking to hit the scoreboard this season with either or both their runners, Leandra and Irish Anthem.

Team Attard has chosen what it considers is the right race for dual acceptor Leandra, whilst seven-times placegetter Irish Anthem jumps up in class attempting to shed his maiden status.

Leandra (Rachel King) in winning form at Hawkesbury. Image by Bradley Photographers

Tom Sherry rides Leandra in the Wynns Coonawarra Midway Benchmark 68 Handicap (1500m), and Rachel King partners Irish Anthem in the Patron Hacienda Incentive Benchmark 64 Handicap (2000m).

Team Attard’s last winner was Sovereign Express, not surprisingly, at home on June 25, and 20 subsequent runners have produced four minor placings (seconds with their last two runners, Oh Golly Gosh at Newcastle on October 1 and Irish Anthem at Kembla Grange two days later).

“Generally, our horses have been racing well without winning and hopefully we can turn that around tomorrow,” Jason Attard said today.

Leandra has been withdrawn from the Tooheys Ultra F&M Benchmark 64 Handicap (1300m) against her own sex to take on all comers in the longer 1500m Benchmark 68.

“Her two runs back in Midway Benchmark 72 Handicaps in town over 1200m and 1300m have been pleasing,” Attard said.

“We feel she will be a nice ‘miler’ this preparation, and that’s why we went for the 1500m, along with the fact she is better drawn and has less weight (60kg to 56kg).

“Like Lucy and myself, Leandra also likes racing on her home track. Her three wins here have produced two wins and a second.

“Both her wins last year were on soft ground, and she also ran well when not beaten far (by Moorestown) in a Provincial Benchmark 64 Handicap over the 1500m on a good track.”

Tom Sherry knows Leandra, having ridden the mare in her first-up eighth (beaten only three lengths) to Silentsar in a Benchmark 72 Handicap (1200m) at Rosehill Gardens on September 14.

Attard is not concerned taking on a Benchmark 64 Handicap with Irish Anthem, still winless after 15 starts.

“I’ve been really keen to get him up over a trip, and it could not have worked out better in regard to this race,” he said.

“We put blinkers on him last time when he ran second to Equilibrist in a Provincial Maiden Plate (1600m) at Kembla Grange, and the winner and he drew right away from the others to fight out the finish (fourth placegetter Dubai Dame broke through at Bathurst yesterday for fellow Hawkesbury trainer Brad Widdup).

“It was important to get that 1600m run behind him to step up to 2000m, and it comes on his home track. Irish Anthem also drops 4kg going up in class, and I’m sure he will run well.”

Leandra was a $4.40 second favourite with TAB behind last start Kembla Grange winner Fugitiva (Dylan Gibbons), and Irish Anthem was at $13 (with Tim Clark’s mount, topweight So Sleek, the $3.40 favourite).

Ahead of his big engagements at The Everest meeting at Royal Randwick on Saturday, James McDonald goes to Hawkesbury for one ride – ruling VRC Oaks favorite Powers Of Opal in the Brookvale Union Dark 6% Super Maiden Handicap (1600m).

The John Sargent-trained filly totally dominates the market as a $1.28 hotpot following her fourth to Lady Shenandoah in the Group 1-Flight Stakes (1600m) at Royal Randwick on October 5.

The daughter of 2012 Cox Plate winner Ocean Park has raced only five times – all in town – and was a close third in a Midway Benchmark 72 Handicap (1400m) at Randwick on September 7 before contesting the Flight.

Sargent won a 1600m Class 1 Handicap at Hawkesbury in March 2015 with another three-year-old filly Gust Of Wind on her way to toppling the mighty Winx in the Group 1-ATC Oaks at Randwick the following month.

The rail is 2m out from the 1100m to the winning post, and in the TRUE position for the remainder of the circuit.

Course manager Kyle Cassim at 8am today posted a Soft 5 rating, with a penetrometer reading of 5.3. A total of 13mm of rain has been recorded in the past seven days, but nothing in the last 24 hours.

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