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The memories of Mercurial Lad winning the final race of his career in last year’s Bega Cup will last forever as the Joseph-Jones stable attempt to capture the feature race again on Sunday.
The two-day carnival will commence on Saturday with seven races with a further eight on Sunday at the Sapphire Coast.
Twelve months ago, the gallant veteran Mercurial Lad captured the $80,000 Bega Cheese Cup (1600m) as a $31 chance.
The Joseph-Jones stable always targets the carnival and will have four starters in the Cup – Room Number ($4.20 favourite on TAB), She's All In ($15), Nieces And Nephews ($9) and Roman ($17).
Room Number maintained her excellent form this campaign winning at odds of $61 at Randwick last Saturday and stable jockey Quade Krogh will again ride the mare.
She's All In (Winona Costin) ran fifth in the same race and will again go up against her stablemate, while Nieces And Nephews (James Innes jnr) and Roman (Jean Van Overmeire) will also represent the stable.
Roman is a half-brother to Mercurial Lad and ran a solid third behind Peyton Place and Girls Are Ready in the Moruya Cup when resuming from a spell.
Girls Are Ready ($8.50) will also line-up in the Bega Cup, while Peyton Place ($4.20 fav) will have a huge following when he starts in the Bega Sprint (1200m). Peyton Place is a dominant front-runner and should again find the lead in the $50,000 feature sprint.
The six-year-old is prepared at the Sapphire Coast by Greg Stephens and is nearing $300,000 in prizemoney.
Wagga apprentice jockey Molly Bourke has ridden Peyton Place on three occasions for a Moruya win, a third in the Gundagai Snake Gully Cup and third in a Canberra Federal. Bourke will also ride the in-form Gwennybegg ($15) which is chasing four straight wins in the Cup.
Meanwhile, Newhaven Park Country Championships hopeful Cavalier Charles ($2.80 fav) resumes racing on Sunday in the Bega Betta Home Living Showcase Class 2 (1200m). Cavalier Charles, along with Molly Nails, are the two horses trainer Matt Dale has in contention for the Newhaven Park South East Country Championships at Nowra on Sunday, February 13.
