BENDIGO trainer Graham Browney sees no reason why Montauk can't emulate his Avoca Cup win of a fortnight ago in Saturday's Mount Wycheproof Cup (1800m).
The seven-year-old gelding will carry the top weight of 58kg in the $25,000 feature race and will again have in-form jockey Samuel Payne in the saddle.
Browney said Montauk had trained on well since his win at Avoca and was capable of another big effort.
"The horse has been training well and everything has been going right," he said.
"We've beaten a few in this field before, but the one that I see as the danger is Brent Stanley's horse (Shaq), who will be coming up for his third run in about three weeks.
"We'll see what happens, but we'll be there and I reckon he can win."
Montauk is having his eighth start for Browney, who acquired the horse mid-year from Eric Musgrove.
He was originally trained by Chris Waller, who won six races with the gelding, all of them at metropolitan level in Sydney, including the Group 3 Summer Cup (2000m) at Randwick in December 2017.
A small field of seven in the Mount Wycheproof Cup field will include two of Montauk's rivals from the Avoca Cup (1860m), Shaq, who finished third, and Koolama Boy (eighth).
Those three plus the Dean Krongold-trained Royal Volley, all ran in last month's $25,000 Gunbower Cup (1800m) won by Penny To Sell.
One horse Montauk won't have to contend with at Wycheproof is Avoca Cup runner-up Raid the Cabinet.
The Mick Sell-trained gelding will instead be a starter in Saturday's Mortlake Cup ($2000).
After a promising third at Wednesday's Bendigo Cup meeting with Haski, trainer Stanley will be well represented at Wycheproof with four runners, including Battleborn, Think About Me, Shaq and the debuting Ride Of A Lifetime.
A new addition to the Bendigo training ranks, Jarrod Robinson has Only a Mother lining up in the cup.
The five-year-old gelding has not raced since finishing towards the rear of the field at Ballarat on May 27, which followed a 2100m win at Echuca.
Mount Wycheproof and District Racing Club committee member Jackie Noonan said organisers were expecting a crowd upwards of 4000 on cup day, with plenty of advertising focus on Bendigo-based patrons.
"We think there's a lot of people out there interested with a lot of Bendigonians being (former) Wycheproofians," she said.
"We usually get close on 4000 and we're really happy with that number.
"We have a good crowd for repeat-patronage and it's comfortable. People can get a drink, get to the toilets, the kids are safe and it's a really good crowd.
"Our bookings have been great and we are all set for a great day."
Noonan said this year's meeting had gained added exposure through a Country Racing Victoria ad campaign, which featured jockey Harry Coffey's 'history-making' haul of six wins from seven rides on cup day at Wycheproof in 2016.
"That's iconic now, it's on our stubby holders, and everyone talks about it," she said.
"Everyone associates Harry with Wycheproof races."
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