Garry White may have tasted success on Towac Park's biggest day of the year four times over his career, but that's not stopping the trainer from hunting for a fifth crown at Friday's Oriana Orange Gold Cup Showcase.
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Last year's winner Letter To Juliette was confirmed to return for another crack at the $65,000 feature when nominations were released on Monday, but will be up against a strong field to retain the title won by two lengths in 2018.
The five-year-old mare had been building up to the cup's 2100m distance before a five-week freshen up in February and March, with the first race on the comeback getting the feel for Towac Park, running second at Orange on March 24.
Andrew Molloy's Welcome Art has also shown promising form heading into the cup.
Letter To Juliette will have to overcome the horse that pipped her in that first race back, Allan Gibson's Cowboys Karma which - outside a 10th on February 19 - has been in ripping form, ruling the wild Central West racetracks over summer.
The seven-year-old Gelding ran second in Gilgandra and fourth in Cowra in January before the 10th at Orange on February 16, but stormed back into form with third in Mudgee and the first at Towac Park a fortnight ago.
However, none of those races were over 2000m - in fact, the longest of them was 1700m in Cowra in January.
Scott Singleton's Itasca and Bjorn Baker's Soldier of Love are both in ripping form, with the latter claiming two firsts and a second from it's previous three starts and is undoubtedly the in-form horse heading into the feature.
Solider of Love won't be the only member of Baker's stable taking to the track, with Vega also running.
While the five-year-old hasn't run first since July 5 2018, it's run in the top three in its past four starts, and hasn't finished lower than fifth in seven races in 2019, albeit all over shorter distances than the 2100m Orange Cup.
Andrew Molloy's Welcome Art has also shown promising form heading into the cup.
There's hope for a local to take out the cup, with Michael Plummer entering two runners in the feature, with Royal Abbey and New Zealand gelding Louisville Lip both in the hunt for the prizemoney.
It'll be only Louisville Lip's second run since a six week spell, running seventh in Orange on March 24 in its only run since early February.
Royal Abbey is coming off a fifth in Wellington in the Iron Boot over 2400m, holding the seven-year-old in good stead over the distance, but the form before that run had all been over shorter distances.
The eight-race meeting will be held at Towac Park on Friday, with the Orange Cup jumping as the first event.
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Max Stainkamph
Max joined the CWD in September 2017, leaving the big smoke of Melbourne to come to Orange, where he stayed until 2020.
Max joined the CWD in September 2017, leaving the big smoke of Melbourne to come to Orange, where he stayed until 2020.
