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Finter with eyes on Outback Racing Showcase Final at McKinaly

16 June 2022

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By Jordan Gerrans

Having adjusted well to the dirt racing surface in North West Queensland, trainer Damien Finter thinks Rebel Salute is ready to give the top bush gallopers a shake in Saturday’s Outback Racing Showcase Final at McKinaly.

The annual Final is a popular series in the region, with a $30,000 purse on offer for the 1500 metre event under Open Handicap conditions.

To be eligible to compete in the Final, a horse must have earned points in a minimum of one of the heats and a horse must have competed in a minimum of three races at country races in Queensland over the last year.

Finter’s Rebel Salute picked up points at two of the Mt Isa legs of the series – which is the trainers’ home track.

The five-year-old Deep Field gelding was previously prepared by the now retired team of Bryan and Daniel Guy on the Gold Coast, before being sold to North West based connections.

Having raced across South East Queensland for much of his career, the bay gelding needed time to adjust to the dirt racing around his new home.

“It is pretty tough to get them going on the dirt when they are used to the grass because some horses are used to settling in the back of the field and getting home, which is hard to do on the dirt,” Finter explained.

“Rebel Salute did like running on like that and it takes an adjustment for them to be ridden up on the speed and ridden a different way to what they are used to for most of their careers.

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“With acclimatisation and with the different weather out here in the west, some horses take to it pretty quickly, while others need a preparation and a spell to get used to it.

“This fella has adapted pretty well.”

The stable of Finter is best known for the feats of former bush star Deadly Choices, who started his career in Victoria on the grass, before making his way to the dirt of outback Queensland.

Deadly Choices and Rebel Salute share similar ownership groups – the Hick and Miller families – with the stable newcomer purchased to become a contender for popular series’ such as the Battle of the Bush and the Country Cups Challenge.

The five-time career winner has only been out of the money on one occasion from his four starts for Finter – which came first-up in the area at Maxwelton.

“He took a couple of runs to get used to the dirt and the different surfaces but he is going along good,” Finter said.

“It is a tough little field for Saturday, there is a few handy horses in it.

“We have got him fit now and he will be thereabouts on Saturday.”

The Outback Racing Showcase includes seven heats around the region – Mt Isa, Barcaldine, Tambo and Longreach - before culminating in Saturday’s Final at McKinlay with the increased prize money of $30,000 on offer.

The 2021 Final was won by Todd Austin’s winning-machine Sizzalating before his retirement.

Sizzalating won an amazing nine straight races, including the Final of the Outback Racing Showcase.

Premier bush trainer Austin – who leads the Queensland country premiership this season – has two chances in this year’s Final.

Loud Enough – who comes from the Steve Royes barn – finished second in the Final a year ago to Sizzalating and has been handed the top-weight for the 2022 decider.

Finter rates Loud Enough and Echo Point – who is trained by Austin – as the leading contenders for this week’s race.

Finter – who has three gallopers in work on top of his full-time job in the mines – believes the Outback Racing Showcase Final is great for regional racing.

“It is a fantastic initiative as we do not get many chances like this to race for this sort of money in the bush,” Finter said.

“It is a race that people are starting to pin-point.

“It is really good money and it is always a great crowd at McKinlay as they only race once a year, it is always a good show.

“Most of the horses in this Final will be aiming for the Country Cups Challenge later in the year, you get a good gauge of where your horse is at this time of the year.”

On his former stable star, Deadly Choices is living out his retirement at a property owned by his former connections, which is a couple of hours outside of Mt Isa.

Deadly Choices will go down as one of the best horses in regional Queensland over the last decade, winning a Cleveland Bay Handicap in Townsville, claiming a Country Cups Challenge Final in town as well as running second by a short margin in a Battle of the Bush decider at Eagle Farm.

“He was amazing for all of us, we had the ride of a lifetime,” Finter said.

“He is definitely getting looked after now in retirement.”