Vermicella targets Country Championships after Queanbeyan Cup win

There is one race Joe Cleary wants to win every year, but once Vermicella won the Queanbeyan Cup, he turned his attention to the Country Championships.

The five-year-old mare has won five of her 13 starts and just sneaks under the qualifying bar for the South East Country Championships heat at Sapphire Coast on Sunday.

“When we won at Queanbeyan, I said to Luke [McDonald, Gerry Harvey’s racing manager] that one was for me, now we can go for a big race,” Cleary said.

“I knew the Country Championships were a couple of months away, but I wanted to go into it fresh because she is going to get over a bit of ground being [a daughter of] Pierro."

“It worked out perfectly because 1400m is good for her, and it’s going to be wet, which she handles, so it’s going to be a tough 1400m.”

Cleary has had only two Country Championships contenders in the past, and both made the Final. He believes he has the right horse again and, more importantly, the right draw.

While the qualifier’s betting is dominated by last week’s runaway Highway winner Rose Aye at $2.70, Cleary likes his chances of an upset at $16.

“Drawing inside means my girl is going to get a soft run, but she will get back and need to find the right runs,” Cleary said.

“Quayde Krogh gets on very well with her and he is the right man for the job."

“The thing with the wet track is that her strength will come into the equation, and it might not suit some of the others.”

Meanwhile, trainer Donna Scott will have two runners in the Country Championships Final at Randwick next month after Villasauras nosed out Bon Holler in the Southern qualifier at Wagga on Saturday.

They join Tom Vegas and Turned Down from the Central Districts and Show ’Em Howl and Kaihoko from the Mid North Coast in the Final on April 4.