"My plan is still to aim him at the Cameron Handicap at Newcastle and he is starting to show he is getting back to top condition."

¦ Sensational Gosford sprinter Hay List will have his final hit-out before going to Melbourne at Wyong next Friday during the club's big cup day meeting.

Hay List will be allowed to gallop the Melbourne way of going between races.

He will take off from the 1600m mark and go back along the straight the "wrong way" before speeding up down the back of the track.

Hay List had a hit-out at Gosford on Tuesday morning the Melbourne way and looked exceptional as he outclassed stablemate My Vegas.

"Punters will get the chance to see Hay List work between races and it will be interesting to watch him go the reverse way at Wyong," Wyong chief executive officer Tony Drew said.

¦ Newcastle trainers will meet representatives from Newcastle Jockey Club's board of directors at 9.30am on Wednesday.

The meeting will be held at Darlings Cafe on the Broadmeadow racecourse precinct.

A letter to all trainers at Newcastle from the NJC said they wanted to discuss all matters of interest and that this would be the first of several meetings.

Top trainers Paul Perry and Kris Lees have confirmed they will attend and many trainers gave the meeting the thumbs up as a way of discussing so many problems they have with amenities at Broadmeadow and the track.

¦ High-profile Melbourne jockey Danny Nikolic, who has had so much success at the Grafton Cup carnival and the Coffs Harbour Cup carnival, will ride at both days of next month's Newcastle Cup carnival.

Nikolic is expected to ride Pinwheel in the $150,000 Cameron Handicap (1300m) on September 15.

¦ Astute Sydney trainer Tim Martin has left no doubt about how important the group 3 Newcastle Cup is to the preparation of his star stayer Scouting Wide.

Scouting Wide will run at Rosehill tomorrow in the $100,0000 Premier's Cup (1800m) as a lead-up to the $185,000 Newcastle Cup (2300m) on Thursday, September 16.

"Scouting Wide will have to win the Newcastle Cup to get him into the Melbourne Cup, so that is why I am concentrating on the race at Broadmeadow with the horse," Martin said.

¦ The chase for the prestigious title as Newcastle's horse of the year is a tight affair.

In recent years, horses such as Samantha Miss and the "Broadmeadow Bulldog" Adam have stood as easy choices for the title but this year it could be tougher.

Absolutelyfabulous, from the Kris Lees yard, won the group 3 Cameron at Broadmeadow last September, beating group 1 star Black Piranha.

Abfab then finished third in the group 2 Salinger Stakes at Flemington behind Eagle Falls and Turffontein during the Melbourne Cup carnival.

Prince Braeman, which is trained by Paul Perry, won two races during the season just completed and both were at listed level.

He won the Razor Sharp Quality over 1200m at Randwick in December and the Chief De Beers Quality (1110m) at Doomben in May.

Paul Perry's top stayer, Newport, did not win a race during the season but did finish 10th in the Melbourne Cup (3200m).

He was third in the group 2 Eagle Farm Cup (2200m) and fourth in the group 2 Brisbane Cup (2400m).

Perry's Southern Skye won two races including the listed Geelong Classic (2206m) and was fourth in the group 1 VRC Derby (2500m) before being injured.

Kris Lees's hardy sprinter Motspur won four races in the racing year, the best the listed Falvelon Quality (1200m) at Eagle Farm in May.

Hidden Wonder had her first full preparation with Kris Lees and won three races, including the Magic Millions Stayers Cup (1800m) in January at the Gold Coast.

Smith's Madame Pedrille won two races against her own sex and was second in the group 3 Research Stakes for mares at Rosehill.

The winner will be named at Newcastle Jockey Club's racing awards luncheon on September 13.

The two-year-old award has three finalists - Parriwi, which won four races during the season, Elimbari, which won at Rosehill on debut, and Testarhythm, which won at Canterbury, in western Sydney, over 1200m on July 28.

¦ Here is one insight to why Rosehill-based trainer Chris Waller has become one of the hottest properties in the training ranks in Sydney.

Last Thursday at 10.25am Waller put in his entries for the Newcastle meeting at Broadmeadow

tomorrow.

Entries for the meeting closed at 11am on Monday but Waller had his nominations in and ready to go the previous week.

He is obviously so focused and knows where each and every one of his horses is going.

Success comes hand-in-hand with that type of attitude, application to his job and fantastic staff.

¦ The five provincial clubs - Newcastle, Gosford, Wyong, Hawkesbury and Kembla - have said they will discontinue the payment of farrier and float subsidies at their meetings from October 1.

The clubs said that because of present funding difficulties it was not possible to continue the payments while and retain the same levels of prizemoney and other benefits.

¦ Prominent Gosford owner Colin Keane has retired two of his top-class performers, Enzedex Eagle and Bennetts Green, going to greener pastures.

Enzedex Eagle bled during the Taree Cup and Keane decided it was time for the seven-year-old, which has run third in the Newcastle, Wyong and Gosford cups, to become a dressage performer if the right home came along.

Bennetts Green won $200,000 racing in Australia and added $500,000 to his owner's bank account when sent to Macau to race.

¦ Wyong Race Club has been overjoyed with the way their cup day is shaping up for next Friday.

Maybe the way to go in the future would be to scrub the first day of the carnival and switch the feature races to the Friday.

Such a move would make Gold Cup Day a mammoth meeting with at least 10 races.