Albury mare Bennelong Dancer will have a third crack at the $500,000 Country Championships Final after a spirited second placing on her home track on Saturday.
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Bennelong Dancer was back near her best as she ran a gallant second in her third appearance in a $150,000 SDRA Country Championships Qualifier (1400m).
Bennelong Dancer, with Daniel Stackhouse in the saddle, hit the front midway down the straight and was only run down by Mitch Beer's Sky Call over the final 100 metres.
Albury trainer Donna Scott was stoked to be through to a third consecutive Country Championships Final.
"It's unbelievable," Scott said.
"It's sensational to get another crack at it.
"She ran super. If she had of had a run under her belt.
"It looked like she was gone, she fought back and then probably just knocked up on her run a bit."
Bennelong Dancer tackled the Qualifier first-up, like last year, with two trial wins leading into the race.
Scott will now map out a plan to hit the final on April 4 full of steam after running third at Randwick last year.
"She's back so that's all we asked. We'll just tick her over now and go up there and have another crack.
"We'll sit down.
"We had to get this out of the road.
"We've got nothing planned but we'll just see how she goes from here.
"We'll sit down and work it out."
Albury mares filled three out of the first four placings with Yousay Bolt running home well for fourth.
The Trevor Sutherland-trained Real Key ran well for fifth.
Meanwhile, the Geoff Duryea stable still had plenty to cheer about on Saturday as they unearthed another nice horse at Albury.
News Girl may have gone down at Caulfield, but that did not stop the cheers from the Duryea Racing camp when Front Page saluted on debut at Albury.
Connections almost brought down the grandstand at Albury when Front Page ($5.50) dashed away to score impressively in the $40,000 Thank You To All Bushfire Emergency Services Showcase Country Maiden Plate (1175m).
Front Page, a full brother to News Girl, scored by 2.5 lengths in a class record time of 1:08.77 for jockey Jordan Mallyon.
Antonio ($3.50) ran second, with a further two lengths to Previso ($7.00) in third.
News Girl did not show her customary early speed but battled on to be beaten three lengths.
An impressive 2000-strong crowd attended Saturday's meeting at Albury with officials delighted with the response.
At Caulfield, News Girl finished sixth in the group three Mannerism Stakes (1400m).
