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By Ray Hickson

A youngster with just three runs under his belt is shaping as a dark horse among at least five runners Wayne Wilkes is sending into Sunday’s $150,000 Evergreen Turf Mid North Coast Country Championships (1200m) at Port Macquarie.

Trainer Wayne Wilkes

The Taree trainer nominated nine horses and will be looking to emulate his best result in a Country Championships from back in 2019 when Lucciola Belle won the Mid North Coast race at Port Macquarie then finished second behind Noble Boy in the Final.

Wilkes is likely to be represented by the in-form Sumo Fish, Outreach To Henry, Sixspeed and Lensman but after Laizabout landed at 14 in the order of entry he’s warming to the three-year-old’s chances.

Laizabout won impressively on debut but had to be spelled when he pulled up sore following a failure at his second start.

When he returned he showed Wilkes he’s on target with a slashing first-up third behind Bodhi Boy, another exciting and lightly raced galloper, last month.

“He was doing his best work late, I think he just needed the run,’’ Wilkes said.

“It was his first time around that track and he would have gained confidence out of it.

“We step to the 1200m this time, he’s going to be strong at the finish.

“He drew wide as well (first-up), he’s going to need a lot of luck in running because there’s going to be a lot of speed in this race being only 1200m.”

Sumo Fish has been a quiet achiever in the Wilkes yard and will head into his biggest test after completing a hat-trick with his dead heat win over 1106m at Port Macquarie.

The gelding, a winner of five of his 18 starts, has a strong record at the track and Wilkes said he has plenty of improvement to take into Sunday’s race.

“He’s taken a while to mature and he’s flown under the radar a bit with everything,’’ he said.

“He was a little bit underdone going into that race and it tops him off for the Country Championships.”

Wilkes is wary that the Mid North Coast Country Championships when it’s run at Port Macquarie is a trickier race to navigate due to being the only 1200m race in the series.

It means there can be a mix of pure sprinters, better suited to the shorter course, and those who would prefer it further – but in order to be eligible for the second chance Wild Card at Scone in March you have to accept and, unless scratched with stewards' permission, line up if you gain a start.

“You can say there’s a couple that won’t run past 1200m and there’s other horses in there that would suit 1400m ideally,’’ he said.

“If it was 1400m it probably would have been better so we’ve just got to keep them on the fresher side.

Laizabout runs third at Port Macquarie on January 24

“For a horse like Sixspeed the 1200m will suit him first-up but he will get out to 1400m. He’s proven at it. I think Laizabout will get to 1400m easily and so will Sumo Fish.

“Lensman, the 1200m will probably be too sharp for him but we have to go through this process and probably go through the Wild Card path with him.”

First and second from the Port Macquarie race will earn the right to contest the $1 million Evergreen Turf Country Championships Final (1400m) at Randwick on April 5.

All the entries, form and replays ahead of Sunday's Country Championships meeting at Port Macquarie