Raiders captain Jarrod Croker is bracing for a monster 24 hours with Friday's preliminary final against Melbourne just the beginning of a huge weekend.
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After leaving Suncorp Stadium, ideally having just qualified for a second-straight NRL grand final, Croker's attention will turn to Saturday's Kosciuszko at Randwick where his horse Intuition will race for a share in $1.3m.
Later that evening his focus will be off to Menangle where three of his trotters are in action - Send It and Rockin With Elvis are aiming to qualify for next weekend's Breeders Final while veteran Our Triple Play will aim for a 16th career win.
"It's a big weekend, hopefully a couple of winners," Croker said.
"I had to sacrifice my tickets unfortunately. Hopefully a win in the footy and hopefully a win on Saturday in the big one."
Intuition drew gate 10 in Wednesday's Kosciuszko barrier draw, and is unfancied in the market as a $41 chance with TAB.
Race caller Darren Flindell will have no problem keeping up with the Kurt Goldman-trained six-year-old which will be wearing custom-designed Raiders silks. They'll be auctioned off at the end of the race to raise money for the Ricky Stuart Foundation.
Intuition heads into the race first-up off a sound barrier trial late last month where he finished just three lengths adrift of Everest fancy Gytrash.
"He's got great form round him, he trialled against [Gytrash] ... and ran third a couple of lengths off him and was doing it pretty easy," Croker said.
"I'm not in control of the odds, that's just for me to take. You can make a case for a lot of those horses - that's the beauty of racing and it's the beauty of the big races, there's good horses in them.
"Sometimes it's the best horse, sometimes it's getting the right run as well."
Unbeaten Brett Cavanough mare It's Me is shaping as the best horse in the race, having won all three of her career starts. including two Highway Handicaps at Randwick.
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"It's hard to get a gauge on, that horse could be a freak, it could be the next big thing you never know," Croker said.
"Some of those horses have had two or three starts. A couple of horses, ours and Redouble and a few other ones, are a bit more seasoned campaigners that have been around and know how to handle big races and big events.
"It's a really interesting race this year with a couple of babies in there and a couple of old bulls as well."
Send It and Rockin With Elvis need to finish top five in their respective semi-finals at Menangle to qualify for next weekend's group 1 colts and geldings Breeders Final.
James Buckley
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
