TRAINER Danny Curran concedes a tilt at the Melbourne Cup Carnival Country Series qualifier on Bendigo Cup day is 'a throw at the stumps' for All Too Terrific.
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But he couldn't be happier just to have a runner on the biggest day on the calendar for the Bendigo Jockey Club.
Curran says he will be heading to the track with no solid expectations from the five-year-old mare, a winner of two of her 21 career starts, albeit both of them for her former trainer.
But as he is well aware, having trained a few long shots to victory in his years in the caper, including Manhattan Menage at over 50-1 in the 2017 St Arnaud Cup, upsets can and do happen.
"I'd have to say she's probably out of her class, but it's lovely to have a runner at home on cup day," he said.
"It would have been lovely if there was a crowd there too.
"Some of his owners are Melbourne people and they are hanging out to get to the races.
"Originally, they were talking about having owners at Bendigo, but that didn't happen, so hopefully its not too far away."
Previously trained by Leon and Troy Corstens, All Too Terrific will be having her fifth start for Curran after finishing midfield in his first four at Echuca, Benalla, Swan Hill and Mildura.
She will take her place in the field alongside fellow Bendigo-trained runners Vungers and Tatunka, who both qualified for the $500,000 series final on VRC Oaks day last year and will be among the favourites to do so again with a top-two finish on Wednesday.
Curran said the small field of 10 could only enhance his mare's chances of finishing towards the front-end of the field.
"The other two Bendigo horses in this are really good chances in and if we could sneak a place behind them I'd be really pleased," he said.
Curran has previously had a runner in the Melbourne Cup Carnival Country Series final at Flemington, with Welcome Stryker finishing 11th of 18 runners in 2018.
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