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By Ray Hickson

It probably requires a career best effort but trainer Louise Munce would dearly love to see her pride and joy Little Steiny complete a hat-trick at Wyong on Thursday.

Munce only has three horses in work and training is very much a hobby – she runs a boat cover business with her husband Alan – moreso now than when Full On Magic was winning races like the Scone Cup and Rowley mile in the early 2000s.

“It’s a passion, it’s my own thing and it gets me away from the boats,’’ Munce said.

“I had a couple of handy horses and used to breed a few. The horses do so well here being on a farm, out at Wyong Creek, and it’s a nice environment for them.”

Seven-year-old Little Steiny broke an over two year drought when he won first-up at Muswellbrook in mid-August and backed it up at Gosford with another all the way win so a hat-trick awaits in the Police Remembrance Day Handicap (1100m).

Munce had planned to take the gelding to Tuncurry for a race on Cup Day earlier this month but a setback forced her to scratch and as it turned out the second half of the meeting, including the race she had targeted, was abandoned.

Little Steiny wins at Gosford on August 27

She's hoping for a bit of rain, and a couple of scratchings, to make the task easier given he'll carry 2.5kg more than last start.

“I was quite impressed with the way he handled the 1000m at Muswellbrook and he just improved since,’’ Munce said.

“I’d love to get a treble with him, that’d be fantastic. He had a little setback and I gave him a bit of time off but he really races better fresh with a bit of a gap in between.”

So what’s been the difference in Little Steiny this preparation? He’s only managed one placing in each of his last two preparations but is clearly enjoying life right now.

“Things weren’t right last preparation,’’ Munce said.

“He’s put on so much more weight with a bigger spell that he’s had, he’s just such a trier. We love him.

“He’s taken a while to mature, he was a very timid sort of a horse when I first got him, but he has been a pleasure to train. So genuine.

“Being a seven-year-old feeling his joints a little bit more he needs the sting out of the ground but he is going really well.”

Robbie Dolan rides Little Steiny ($21 with TAB) at Wyong, Jay Ford partnered him last time but wasn’t available, and Munce said the plan will be the same as it’s been in his two wins – go forward and see what happens.

All the fields, form and replays for Thursday's Wyong meeting