It’s a fair commitment to drive a 900km round trip to ride in a barrier trial but jockey Matthew McGuren did just that to give himself the best chance of winning Sunday’s $150,000 Newhaven Park Hunter & North West Country Championships (1400m) on Rhythm Is A Dancer.

The Newhaven Park Country Championships heads to Tamworth on Sunday for the $150,000 Hunter & North West region’s qualifier.

For Scone’s Luke Pepper, excitement is mounting for far bigger occasions but for now it’s business as usual for Monday’s home track TAB meeting.

Wily veteran Stephen Jones is tipping a complete form reversal with promising Don’tcha Think ($4 on TAB) into Sunday’s Muswellbrook TAB meeting.

Unbeaten filly Once Again My Girl might be playing in the “big sandpit”, as trainer Brett Cavanough puts it, when she makes her stakes debut at Scone on Saturday but she’s earned it given the lofty margins of her two wins to date.