Saul Duck is hoping to take advantage of an ideal draw as he prepares to line up his first runner in his hometown feature.
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Duck has drawn barrier one with Rockita in the second heat of the Junee Pacers Cup on Saturday.
Group one winner Regulus, who returned to the race track for Rickie Alchin with a win at Temora last week, looms as the obvious danger however the Junee trainer is confident Rockita can hold her own.
"She will be hard to beat," Duck said.
"She should go good and is going good now."
Rockita won two straight before being luckless at Leeton last time out.
She was three wide for the majority of the race before finishing ninth when beaten 16.4 metres.
However from the draw Duck expects it will be a different story this time around.
"You just forget about that run," he said.
"She didn't get any luck there but she is still working every bit as good, if not better.
"She will be right in the thick of it."
Son Bayley takes the drive.
Duck expects he will be looking to hold the lead if possible.
"She should be holding onto the lead and he (Bayley) will be trying his hardest to lead," he said.
"He thinks he can hold them."
The top five in each heat will win through to the $14,500 final next week.
Duck also has two runners in the Menangle Country Series heat on the program.
Both Mister Donald and Procurement have drawn on the second row, however the Junee trainer expects both are good chances.
"They are both going good," Duck said.
"Procurement went well the other day at Wagga and Donald goes good all the time so they will be hard to beat in that race."
Procurement started his career with the Ducks, where he won one of his two starts, before heading to Queensland.
He's won two more races since then before returning to the Junee stable.
The best was a third last time out.
Bayley takes the drive on Procurement with Peter McRae to steer Mister Donald.
"(Bayley) stayed on him as the big horse is a bit hard to handle and he went good anyway so it didn't worry him to stay on him," Duck said.
"Peter has drove the other one in track work a couple of times so he got the steer."
Mister Donald won at Junee two starts back.
David Kennedy's Cheddarnator has won two straight heading into the race, and has drawn gate two, but Duck believes his pair is more accustomed to that grade of racing.
"He will probably be in front but our blokes will be coming around to have a look at him at some stage," he said.
"He is just coming up in class while our horses have been doing it so we will see what happens."
The first of 10 races on the big card starts at 6.17pm.
The Junee Pacers Cup final will the the feature of the club's Carnival Of Cups meeting next Sunday, January 26.
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