John Wheeler is preparing another raiding party to plunder the Australian stakemoney.
The Taranaki trainer, who has an extraordinary record in Australia, will have runners in South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland over the next three months.
He will have his customary team at the jumping meetings at Oakbank and Warrnambool and should also be well represented at the Sydney and Brisbane carnivals.
Wheeler has long demonstrated an ability to identify the right horses to campaign in Australia.
He has won 18 group one races in Australia and recorded five successive wins in the Great Eastern Steeplechase at Oakbank.
He has had few runners over the summer but several of his better horses will be resuming in the next three weeks.
They include Classify, Conference, Midnight Babe, Grease and Cousteau, who have been nominated for the Ellerslie meeting on Saturday.
Classify, Conference and Midnight Babe are entered for the open 1400m and Grease will resume in the premier quality 1600m and Cousteau in the class two 1400m.
All five horses are likely to race at the Sydney autumn carnival before going on to Brisbane.
Cousteau, who has not raced since early November, was the runner-up to Tit For Taat in the Wanganui Guineas and won twice as a two-year-old last winter.
"We will see how he comes up but he might be up to the best of them (three-year-olds) on soft ground," Wheeler said.
Conference, who has not raced since winning over 1600 metres in Brisbane with 58.5kg last May, is a six-year-old but has had only 18 starts and has an impressive strike rate, with six wins.
"He had a bit of filling in a joint and was out for six months but he's ready to rock and roll again," Wheeler said.
Grease, another who has not raced since last May, is a lightly raced five-year-old. He ran fifth in the Queensland Derby as a three-year-old and Wheeler expects the Dance Floor gelding to develop into a good stayer.
- NZPA
Racing: Wheeler ready for Australian raids
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