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By Ray Hickson

Trainer Mitchell Beer has weight of numbers with six runners in Saturday’s $150,000 Newhaven Park Southern Districts Country Championships (1400m) at Wagga but he’s also wary they’ll need to be at their best to topple defending champ Another One.

Trainer Mitchell Beer.

However, no race is a foregone conclusion and Beer says even if Another One is too classy he could make a case for the likes of Mnementh and Snowbella, at least, to take him to a second Country Championships Final.

Beer won the Southern Districts event in 2020 with Sky Call and though his number one seed, Sunrise Ruby, isn’t there on Saturday he’s already seen in the 2022 series that price doesn’t mean you can’t qualify for Randwick.

“We’ve already seen it with To The Nines ($61) getting a crack from Nowra,’’ Beer said.

“You just have them in the best order you can and who knows what happens but I would say there would have to be a chink in Another One’s armour for any of us to beat it.

“He won and won well last year then backed it up running second in the Final and that’s as good as any horse has done from the SDRA. He’s a quality horse and we’re all there to beat it.”

The popular Albury trainer elected to scratch Hardware Lane from his seven original acceptors which range from top weight Mnementh, who started $7.50 in this race last year, to three-year-old Scarlet Prince who will be having just his seventh start.

The market says Mnementh is up there with his best chances, he’s $16 with TAB on Thursday, the five-year-old is tackling the race first-up and Beer says the stats say he has to run well.

“He’s had five first-up runs for two wins and two seconds and the other one he went amiss,'' he said.

"He’s had four runs at Wagga for two wins and a second and the Country Championships last year where he pulled up with an issue.

“If all mine got the runs I want them to have he’d beat them all. It’s a pretty mixed bag but when they are eligible I want to have them headed towards this race.”

The barrier draw hurt Beer the most when it comes to grey mare Swowbella who had a wide gate to contend with third-up when a close second behind Tap ‘N’ Run in the Preview at Albury two weeks ago.

She’ll jump from gate 15 on Saturday and Beer has the fingers crossed Richard Bensley has some luck on her in the early stages.

“Snowbella I thought was probably my second best chance going into the race but that barrier is going to make it more difficult,’’ he said.

“She has good speed and a pretty light weight. She probably should have beaten Tap ‘N’ Run last start, she drifted off on the corner and got beaten less than a length.

“If she was to find herself in the first four or five easily enough she’ll certainly finish there, she’s going very well.”

Sunrise Ruby would have been hard in the market at Wagga and was a $21 chance with TAB when markets opened on the Country Championships Final but Beer said she simply wasn’t ready in time.

She finished midfield as a $9.50 chance in The Kosciuszko in October and will likely resume later in the month.

“I think between the Kosciuszko and our race being so early she didn’t have a huge break but I think it all came a bit quick,’’ he said.

“I thought she only trialled fairly twice, she’s an older mare now and a bit bigger and it taking longer to come to hand.”

Snowbella runs second at Albury on February 3

Mitch Beer’s comments on his other Country Championships runners:

Power Me Up: "We knew we’d have to give him a couple of runs and trial him a couple of times to have him right for this race. He’s in the best order we can have him. He’s a Narrandera Cup winner and from a class point of view he’s up to it. It’s whether he’s going as good and whether 1400m is going to be too short for him but it’s a great opportunity for the horse."

Swagger: "His first-up run was phenomenal, he was unlucky not to win the Town Plate at Moruya which would certainly be good enough for a race like this to be a chance. He was extremely disappointing at Canberra but pulled up with an issue behind. That’s been rectified. On his first-up run and his Highway run he is well in the mix."

Scarlet Prince: "His first two runs were terrific and he went to Caulfield and was far from disgraced. We freshened him up and he trialled very well with Tap ‘N’ Run but he went to Moonee Valley the other night and raced like a colt that wasn’t trying very hard. The winkers go on, he’s good enough but the gelding is going to come too late."

Tullaghan: "He’s run second two starts ago at Benchmark 74 grade, I own him so we’re going. When the nominations looked light on I thought it’d be a great opportunity for my apprenctice (Fiona Sandkuhl) to have a ride in a $150,000 race. We’ve kept him fresh, he was the only one I wouldn’t mind drawing bad and going back on him and he lobbed barrier four."

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday's Counry Championships meeting at Wagga