Wallace considers Battle Of The Bush campaign with Inatick

By Glenn Davis

Toowoomba trainer Paul Wallace is hopeful his in-form sprinter Inatick can complete a hat-trick of wins at Dalby on Tuesday ahead of a possible Battle Of The Bush campaign.

“I’ve never had a starter in the Battle Of The Bush and I’d love to have a go at it,” Wallace said.

“But, he has to run in more country races to be eligible, so he’ll need to run in some more eligible races to meet some of the qualifying conditions.”

The $200,000 Battle Of The Bush Final will be run at Eagle Farm on June 27.

Wallace has only been training full-time again for a short time and has 25 horses in work at his property outside Toowoomba.

“I train on a property outside Toowoomba and I truck my horses to Clifford Park for trackwork,” Wallace said.

“I had been training on and off for about 20 years before I went full-time.”

His biggest win was with Drunken Joker in the Group 3 Doomben Classic in 2004.

Wallace previously trained as a hobby while working for a John Deere mowing dealership in Toowoomba.

He has won four races since the start of the year with Inatick claiming two of them, both at Dalby.

His latest winner was Betterindanude in a 1000 metre Class B Handicap at Taroom last Saturday.

Inatick was nominated for two races at Dalby, but Wallace decided to tackle the Open Handicap over 1100 metres.

The five-year-old is owned by Wallace’s wife Sandra.

Inatick is a daughter of Just Keep Giving.

“She was an Aquis mare” Wallace said.

“Inatick is one of four horses she foaled.

“I’ve got another one of them while another went to Rockhampton and the other is no longer racing.”

Wallace has booked English jockey Fred Larson to ride Inatick and is confident he’ll be competitive on his favourite track.

“It’s a hard race but he’s won four of his seven starts at Dalby so he should run well again,” he said.

A son of Kobayashi, Inatick has been a good money spinner for connections earning more than $110,000 in prizemoney with seven wins and nine placings from 25 starts.