Fraternater will make her Sydney debut in the Highway race at Randwick with her trainer Neil Osborne saying that is where she belongs.
Racing NSW has flagged a change in status for Canberra trainers from country to provincial, a switch that would bar their horses from the Highway races.
A decision has been deferred for three months but for Osborne, who lives 20 minutes from the ACT, the status quo should remain.
“It’s a bone of contention because I live in New South Wales, my stables are in New South Wales, my horses are trained in New South Wales, they go to Canberra every now and again for a gallop,” Osborne said.
“My horses spend 1.3 per cent of their time in Canberra and they deem me to be a Canberra trainer.
“I think the average field size is 11.5 with Canberra in the Highway. If you take all the Canberra runners out, there would be a field size of eight.”
Fraternater, a four-year-old mare named after Osborne’s apprentice Carly Frater, makes her Highway debut over 1400-metres on Saturday after winning two of her four starts.
“It was always there at the back of our minds. We hoped she’d be good enough to get to a Highway,” Osborne said.
“We might do one more after this and then bring her back in March and maybe the Provincial Championship.”
Although Canberra trainers are classed as country, earlier this year they were moved into the provincial arena for the Championship series.
