Southern Countess back to fray
Top jumper Southern Countess returns from a long break at Matamata today to prepare for another tilt at the Great Northern Hurdles.
“She’s been back in work six months and while we’re not expecting too much — she may need a run or two — she is a class horse,” trainer Peter Brosnan said.
“She’s still young at heart and you have to look after them so we’ll take it a race at a time, but the Northern is the long-term plan if everything goes well.”
The rising 11-year-old will resume on the flat in the Colchester Engineering 1600 with Aaron Kuru riding.
Southern Countess has contested three Great Northerns and won the Ellerslie feature in 2011, having run third the previous year, and she was also runner-up in 2012, after which she was sidelined by injury.
The mare’s Ellerslie record is further enhanced by her three consecutive wins in the Tony Richards Hurdle before each of her Northern runs.
“We would love to get her to that meeting in the same sort of form,” Brosnan said.
“They’ve capped the handicap at 70kg and it’s pretty certain she’ll get that and she deserves to.
“If she went really well at Matamata, then we may take her down for the Awapuni Hurdles,” Brosnan said.
“That’s worth $50,000 and it would be a nice one to kick her off in. She has raced well there before.”