Dubbo trainer Brett Robb has qualified two horses in the million-dollar bush classic at Royal Randwick to be raced on Easter Saturday.

Robb used his home-track advantage on Sunday, March 15 – after the 2026 Evergreen Turf Western Racing Association (WRA) Country Championships Qualifier meet moved from Coonamble to Dubbo due to water on the track – to steer his entry, “Poison Point” to first past-the-post.

Stablemate “Micro Mikki” bagged second place and also qualified for the $1 million Country Championships Final at Randwick, while, hot on their heels was another of his entries, “Nimble Star”.

Known colloquially as “Snow”, Robb said later the win was a rich reward for the four-year-old mare, who finished third behind “Gallant Star” and “Rouge Moulin” in last year’s race.

“Her run was really good last year out at Coonamble; she sat wide all the way out there and just missed out,” Robb recalled.

“She’s 12 months older now and a lot more mature and had a bit of racing, so we thought she would be one of our main hopes,” he added.

Brett said the “little horse” has a big heart and has overcome some issues during the year but has had a couple of jump outs since her last race and he was confident she could run the distance.

"She hasn’t had the cleanest preparation; I was a little bit worried after a few setbacks after racing in the Country Classic in Sydney, and we gave her a month out,” Robb revealed.

“The plan was to give her a couple of trials, and we couldn’t do that, so I was a little bit worried about her fitness, but she’s just a real trier, a little beauty!”

The champion trainer was also full of praise for his stable staff and their work on the horse.

“Obviously, the team’s worked hard with her and got her right, and she’s flown home to quinella the big one.”

Dubbo trainer Michael Mulholland also had his entry “Kranich” finish third to remain in contention for the Easter meet at Sydney if there are any scratchings, while Clint Lundholm finished fourth with his highly-fancied entry, “Brutal Love”.

Clint and his long-term racing friend, jockey, and trainer, Kody Nestor, then backed up with “Stockholm” in the next race to finish off a great day’s racing.

Sam Fitzgerald, the former Manager of Dubbo Turf Club, was an interested spectator after taking up a new role as racing manager with leading trainer, Ciaron Maher. He was delighted with the way the Qualifier had been run on short notice after Coonamble was forced to transfer the meeting with just a week’s notice.

“Obviously your heart goes out to Coonamble; the whole community up there is supportive and they’ve had a long-term association with the Qualifiers, so it was a gut-wrenching blow when water issues made it impossible to race,” Fitzgerald said.

“Good to see a good crowd number from the committee here to enjoy the day without all the pressures of hosting,” he added.

Fitzgerald also had a cheeky comment on his old mate, Clint Lundholm: “They don’t call him ‘Last Race Lundholm’ for nothing,” Fitzgerald said.

“He’s won here at the death over the past four or five meetings!”