While it is looking unlikely he will gain a start Cowra galloper Zharhon remains in the field for the $1.3 million The Kosciuszco at Royal Randwick on Saturday.
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The Andrew Molloy trained galloper is listed among four emergencies for the race.
In the event of a scratching the slot holder for that galloper than has the choice of selecting a further entry for the race from the four declared emergencies.
The other emergencies are Queanbeyan galloper Coolring, the Colt Prosser trained Prince Mayted and Paul Messara trained Caerless Choice.
If Coolring gains a start there will also be a Cowra connection to the race as he is part owned by Peter Chudleigh and Michael Stelzner.
Young is already represented in the race via Don’t Give A Damn owned by Keith Carmody.
Carmody has been in the racing game for nearly 50 years but he’s hoping Saturday brings his biggest thrill.
It’s been a “full on” experience for Carmody since the announcement of the inaugural race by Racing NSW earlier this year.
Lucky punters who purchased five dollar tickets to enter the sweepstakes got a slot to negotiate with owners of country horses to run in the Kosciuszko.
After negotiating with several slot owners Carmody settled with a punter who owns a property at The Rock near Wagga.
“We came to an agreement and have become pretty good mates since then,” Carmody said.
“I was talking to him yesterday giving him an update on the horse. We haven’t actually met.
“It was pretty full on there for a few days I had a number of people ringing me up trying to do deals. It was just a matter of what they thought their percentage should be and what I thought their percentage should be.”
Don’t Give A Damn was bred locally, being a product of Bowness Stud and is trained by Danny Williams at Goulburn.
Carmody said Williams told him on Sunday that the horse was in the best condition he’d seen for the 1200m race.
“I think I’ve seen just about every start he's had. First start was at Goulburn which he won and then he ran second at Sydney. Then he’s run a number of times at Sydney tracks, Rosehill and Randwick, he won a heat of the Country Championships at Muswellbrook and came second in the Championships Final and he wasn’t fully fit than, he had some issues with his feet,” Carmody said.
“We’re quietly confident but not overly confident, but confident he’ll run a good race.”
A big contingent of people from the Cherry Capital will make their way to Royal Randwick including many of Carmody’s family and friends. And while there’s “bound to be butterflies”, he’s trying to keep his emotions and “everything under control”.
“I think there’ll be a huge crowd there,” Carmody said.
“There’s a lot of local input in the horse. The sire, Bon Hoffa, stands at the stud here. If he wins it would be great for me and great for the town. He’ll be in the race it just depends how good the opposition are.”
Don’t Give A Damn is a $7 hope with Kerrin McEvoy to ride.
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