THE powerful Maher-Eustace training combination is launching a strong assault towards the Lafferty Hurdle and Thackeray Steeplechase at Warrnambool on Sunday.
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First-season jumper Euroman lines up in the Lafferty Hurdle for Victoria's leading trainers, Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, while Bit Of A Lad will be their Thackeray chance.
Ciaron's younger brother Declan is overseeing Euroman and Bit Of A Lad's preparation for the feature jumps races.
Euroman has taken no harm from an incident which saw him not complete the course in the South Australian Grand National Hurdle at his last start, according to Declan.
"Euroman is bright as a button after his South Australian run," he said.
"He came home and ate up and had no problems.
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"It was just a shame what happened in South Australia but that's racing. We schooled Euroman over the hurdles earlier this week and he was very sharp.
"Shane Jackson has the ride in the Lafferty. He's got a good understanding of Euroman."
Declan is hopeful Bit Of A Lad will emulate his victory in the Brierly Steeplechase at this year's Warrnambool May Carnival in the Thackeray.
"Bit Of A Lad is a funny type of horse," he said.
"He fails to fire in flat races but loves the jumps. His Brierly win as very good and I thought he was brave in the Grand Annual. He just puts in 100 per cent in jumps races.
"The Lafferty Hurdle and Thackeray don't have a big amount of runners but they will be very hard races to win."
The Lafferty Hurdle is at 1.25 pm while the Thackeray at 2.45pm.
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