Oates after Stampede and Cups double at Cloncurry

By Glenn Davis

Longreach trainer Mark Oates is gearing up for a massive day of racing at Cloncurry on Friday and hopefully an even bigger day at Doomben in December.

Oates is hopeful of landing both features at Cloncurry in the Country Cups Challenge qualifier and Country Stampede qualifier with No Inuendo and Halcyon House.

The $200,000 Country Cups Challenge Final over 1600 metres and $105,000 Country Stampede Final over 1110 metres will both be run at Doomben on December 3.

The 54-year-old Oates has a team of nine horses in work, which he prepares while running a full-time business as an industrial spray painter.

Oates - who also rides as an amateur jockey - brought Van Winkel to Brisbane for last year’s Country Cups Challenge Final.

“Unfortunately, he chipped a knee in the last year’s Final and we retired him after he finished last,” Oates said.

“Hopefully we’ll be there again this year and go from last to first.”

Oates still rides his horses in track work each morning and plays the occasional game of touch football with his kids.

“I played touch footy the other day with my sons and won the best and fairest even though we lost,” he said.

Oates is hopeful of turning around his footy loss to winning on the track with No Innuendo and Halcyon House.

No Inuendo was purchased for $4,000 from Toowoomba trainer Steve Tregea at the start of the year and has never missed a prize money cheque in 15 starts for the stable.

The six-year-old is coming off a last start second to the Kristie Clark-Peoples-trained Centaur in the Longreach Cup on September 24 while Halcyon House finished third in the Jenny Reed Memorial Open on the same day.

“I thought both horses should have won at Longreach,” Oates said.

“I watched their replays and they were both top runs but they should have been ridden more aggressively.

“No Inuendo is getting there and will be hard to beat at Cloncurry and he’s a very good horse.

“He’s toughened up now and is very consistent and has the ability to win the final at Doomben.”

Oates, who won seven country Cups last season, is equally as confident with Halcyon House’s ability to go on to the Country Stampede Final.