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Manawatu trainer Mark Oulaghan will head to Trentham on Saturday with a three-pronged attack for the feature races.
Oulaghan will produce rising 12-year-old Harvest The Gold in the $75,000 Dixon & Dunlop Wellington Hurdle (3400m), Rising Tide in the $25,000 metrohotels.com.au Parliamentary Handicap (2200m) and Wotabuzz in the $75,000 Grant Plumbing Wellington Steeplechase (5500m).
Oulaghan is accustomed to winning big races at the Trentham winter meeting, having claimed the Wellington Hurdle with Rand in 2000 and Counter Punch in 2009, while Mi Senor won the Wellington Steeples in 2002 and Brushman won in 2010 and again last year.
Rising Tide will chase his second Parliamentary after winning in 2012 and finishing third last year.
"They are all good winter horses and they go well at Wellington. The two jumps races are worth $75,000, so it's good money to have a go at," Oulaghan said.
Wotabuzz, a 20-length winner of last season's Grand National Hurdle at Riccarton, will have his third shot at a Trentham jumps feature after contesting the Wellington Hurdles the past two years, finishing fourth in 2012 and losing his rider last year.
He showed his potential as a steeplechaser with a comfortable win at his first attempt in the role around the Trentham figure-eight course last month before failing to settle when eighth in the Hawke's Bay Steeples last start.
"He just didn't want to settle at Hastings and that meant he didn't go well. We were quite disappointed but if he can settle at Wellington and is ridden quietly back in the field, he should go much better on Saturday," Oulaghan said.
"We know he can handle the figure-eight course because he won down there a month ago. He should go pretty well. If things pan out for him in the running and he jumps well, he should be a good show."
Michael Mitchell rides Wotabuzz and also teams up with Harvest The Gold in the Wellington Hurdle.
Last year's Great Northern Hurdle winner Harvest The Gold is making his first appearance over jumps this winter after two conditioning runs on the flat.
"Ideally I would have liked to have given him a hurdle race before taking on a race like the Wellington Hurdles as his first one on Saturday, which is quite a big ask," Oulaghan said.
"He's a pretty handy horse but he's just short of a hurdle start and that will count against him, so I'm not overly confident."
Saturday's race will be Harvest The Gold's third appearance in the race after finishing sixth in 2009 and third in 2011.
While Wotabuzz will progress to Riccarton and prepare for the Grand National Steeplechase, Oulaghan will bypass the trip further south with Harvest The Gold in order to have him at his peak for another tilt at the Great Northern at Ellerslie.
Oulaghan has no immediate plans to jump Rising Tide, instead putting his faith in the stayer's ability to handle the Trentham mud as he bids to win his second Parliamentary.
"He's always a show on wet ground but I probably wouldn't want it too puggy. He always goes well at Wellington," Oulaghan said.
Meanwhile, Oulaghan was philosophical about losing his Gr. 1 Auckland Cup winner Who Shot Thebarman, who has been transferred to Sydney trainer Chris Waller
