A first child, a couple of winners, and excitement around the return of rugby league.
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Things are going pretty well for Alex Prout at the moment.
Prout, who plays his footy in Group 10 with Orange Hawks, is also part of the Jeffries racing team and recently celebrated the birth of a baby girl with wife, Tiffany.
Tiffany is the daughter of trainer Sharon Jeffries and there is a strong family feel around the stables, with her father Dale also heavily involved.
"It's been pretty busy at the moment with Tiff out," Prout said.
"Dale has been riding up to 12 horses some mornings and I've been helping out where I can.
"Things were a bit slow in the middle of the year but we're getting a couple of winners now."
Risk And Reward will contest the Triple M Benchmark 66 Handicap (1000m) and had firmed into an early $2.80 favourite on Monday after opening a $4.60 chance.
It makes it a bit easier to get up for those early starts when you've got a few horses going well.
- Alex Prout
Canberra-based Aaron Sweeney takes the ride, having been in the saddle of the Jeffries-trained winners Maria Elisa and Coulpa last month.
"The last couple of months Aaron has been coming and riding work for us," Prout said.
"And for him to do that we've been giving him the majority of the rides. He's friends with the owner of Risk And Reward so has been helping out."
Tuesday will mark Risk And Reward's fourth start for Jeffries and while he's had some injury troubles in the past the now six-year-old gelding always showed plenty of talent for previous trainers Peter Nestor, Terry Robinson, and Kody Nestor.
Risk And Reward will be first-up on Tuesday, having not raced since August 3.
"It makes it a bit easier to get up for those early starts when you've got a few horses going well," Prout said.
"He (Risk And Reward) has been working really well so we're pretty excited.
"Hopefully he performs well and he's done pretty well first-up before so we're pretty confident he'll run well."
The field for Tuesday's event is a handy one, with the Rodney Robb-trained Rogue Runner to carry the 61.5kg top weight.
The Gayna Williams-trained Redirect will be second-up after running second at Dubbo last month while Justin Bowen's Fine Hero and Wallace Street, from the Tamworth stables of Melissa Dennett, have also performed well over the short distances.
And while the race is the current focus, Prout also has one eye on the looming footy season.
Like so many others in the region, Prout and his Hawks teammates went without this year following the cancellation of the 2021 season.
The year off was good but we're keen to get back into it.
- Prout ahead of the Group 10 season with Hawks in 2021
"To be honest I didn't miss it too much at first but then at finals time in the NRL you get the itch back," he said.
"The year off was good but we're keen to get back into it.
"We signed a couple of players in key positions this year so it was a bit frustrating because we thought we had a team to possibly take out the comp but some are staying around so hopefully it all balances out."
The sprint event is the fourth of seven events on the card on Tuesday, with the first jumping at 2.10pm.
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