Following her breathtaking victory in the Country Championships qualifier at the Goulburn racetrack on March 2, Goulburn trainer Tash Burleigh says the reality of her Royal Randwick berth is only just beginning to sink in.
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With two horses, Al Mah Haha and Bocelli, slated to compete in the series final on Saturday April 6, Burleigh says it is still hard to believe the situation in which she finds herself.
"It probably wasn't until I saw it on TV the other day, there's the meeting on the weekend and then there's the wildcard coming up this weekend, so it's really getting real now," she said.
Al Mah Haha won the Goulburn qualifier, an especially impressive effort considering he raced wide without cover the whole ride, closely followed by Bocelli in second.
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Prior to the race, both horses were far from favourites, with Al Mah Haha paying $26 and Bocelli $18. While Burleigh knows they are likely to face similar odds at Royal Randwick, she said they had been underestimated ahead of the Goulburn qualifiers.
"Going into it, there were only a couple I thought had pretty good form on paper, but I thought my two were a little bit overlooked as well," Burleigh said. "They haven't been running disgraceful races.
"[But] going into Saturday in a couple of weeks, it's going to be harder because there's definitely a couple of better-quality horses around.
It's exciting, but I feel like they deserve to be there.
- Goulburn trainer Tash Burleigh
"It's exciting, but I feel like they deserve to be there."
Ahead of the finals in Sydney, Burleigh's plan was to rest Bocelli and give Al Mah Haha a run today at Hawkesbury.
Unfortunately, Hawkesbury has been hit hard by recent wet weather and graded at a heavy 10, which means the track is very wet and soft. Burleigh said it was unlikely Al Mah Haha would run.
"It's a bit of a shame, because it's almost a winnable race in itself," she said.
"But with the big picture in mind, I think we might just scrap the chances of running on a heavy 10 and resort to a Plan B and just do a bit of work here."
Between the two horses, Burleigh believes she has a good number of bases covered when it comes to tactics in the final.
"Bocelli couldn't have done what Al Mah Haha did four wide, and Al Mah Haha probably wouldn't have taken the gap like Bocelli did on the fence," Burleigh said.
"We had a few different options."
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