Sapphire Coast stepping stone to Rosehil

Friday 1 February 2013, 3:38pm

In-form mare Freetoair is in line for a start in the Group Two Breeders Classic if she can win Sunday's $23,000 Town Plate (1200m) at the Sapphire Coast.

The $175,000 Breeders Classic (1200m) is on February 16 at Rosehill.

"The old girl is going super. I'm rapt. She can't go any better than she is," her Moruya-based trainer Luke Pepper said of the seven-year-old mare.

"If she wins on Sunday we'll give her a crack at the Breeders Classic. It will help her stud value.

"She'll go there rock hard fit and with no weight. That might give her a chance against some of the better class mares who are likely to be resuming."

Freetoair has struck a purple patch of form this campaign with two wins and two seconds from four starts.

Pepper got the mare on lease from Tony Hartnell's Meringo Stud in late 2011 after she was previously trained by Len Hodgson in Canberra.

Her first win for Pepper came at a non-TAB meeting at Moruya in February 2012. Freetoair has subsequently strung together five wins including a victory at Canterbury.

Before Pepper stepped in, Freetoair was headed for the breeding barn.

"We were looking for a horse to lease and I knew Freetoair from my time in Canberra," Pepper said.

"I knew she had ability. It was a matter of getting it back."

Freetoair has become a stable favourite.

"She's our little princess," Pepper said. "She's just the sweetest girl to have around the stable, easy to train and a pleasure to do anything with.

"It's just been a matter of keeping her fresh and well."

After recording back to back wins at Canberra and Moruya, the mare was a gallant half neck second to Setgo in a Benchmark 70 event at Kembla Grange on January 23.

"She's only got to run up to her Kembla run to be right in it on Sunday," Pepper said. "She's pulled up fantastic, it's like she hasn't gone around.

"She's drawn a bit awkward (barrier 12) but she's effective racing back or forward."

Pepper is also hoping to upset favourite Fair Nation in the $35,000 Bega Cheese Bega Cup (1600m) in which he saddles up Quichang and Gregory's Fortress.

"Quichang has been set for the race, he gets in with no weight on his back and we missed the Moruya Cup to keep him fresh for Sunday," Pepper said.

"Gregory's Fortress ran out of his skin in the Moruya Cup and he's trained on really well."

The Paul Murray-trained Fair Nation has won the Narooma and Moruya Cups at his past two starts.

– AAP

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