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Leading Newcastle trainer Kris Lees is confident he can extend his near perfect record in Sunday’s $80,000 Taree Gold Cup.
Lees has won two and hasn’t missed a placing in the last four years in the Taree Cup (2000m) and is aiming for a third success in Sunday’s where he will have three representatives.
Past winner Olympic Academy (Darryl McLellan), Our Gravano (Aaron Bullock) and Dubaiinstyle (Andrew Gibbons) will represent the Lees stable.Lees won the 2014 Taree Cup with Slivovitz (Gibbons), and that horse ran third to Ghost Protocol the following year.
He also scored in 2016 with Olympic Academy (Bullock), who also backed up last year and finished ninth to Pirate Ben. Lees also started Admiral Jello, who started favpurite and finished third.“Olympic Academy hasn’t fired in both runs back this time in, but hopefully he can recapture form on a track he obviously knows well,” Lees said.“Our Gravano mixes his form, but has a touch of class.
“Dubaiinstyle had his first run for us when fourth over 1600m at Warwick Farm at the start of the month and has won at the distance.”Wyong trainer Damien Lane and jockey Travis Wolfgram are searching for back-to-back Taree Cup wins with All But Gone, a last-start eye-catching fourth at big odds in Glitra's Coffs Harbour Cup.
Lane and Wolfgram combined last year to pull off a shock win with Pirate Ben, a $31 outsider in the race.