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Six-year-old gelding Malleable has been a great money spinner for connections.

Prepared by Barry Ratcliffe at Kempsey the gelding has recorded five wins and 12 placings from 34 starts earning $71,320 prizemoney.

On Monday at Armidale, the consistent gelding will be out to further boost his earnings in the McDonalds Armidale Armidale Cup over 1900m.

Initially got from Queensland as a tried horse, Malleable has endeared himself to Ratcliffe and his owners John Pengilley, John Strachan, Mark Nicholson and Roger Knour.

“He’s a lovely quiet horse who wouldn’t hurt a fly. There’s no crap in him,” Ratcliffe said. “He’s been a good horse for us.

“The boys (owners) leave all the prizemoney in a pool and they’ve only had to dip into their own kick twice to pay bills since we’ve had him.

“He’s been very consistent.”

Ratcliffe is giving Malleable every hope to give the Armidale Cup a real shake. He floated the gelding to Armidale on Sunday to allow him to settle in, rather than a race day float trip.

Malleable is coming off an strong last start win in a 1600m Benchmark 60 event at Taree on February 28 when he carried 62kg at only his third run back from a 94-day spell.

On Monday Malleable drops to 57kg.

“His last start win was very, very good especially under the 62 kilos,” Ratcliffe said. “He’s in good order, going well.

“The Armidale has always been part of his program. I like to head up there with a team of horses if I can.

“He’s near his peak. He worked well during the week, ate up and has come on good. I’m happy with him.

“I’m pretty confident he’s got his hoof right on the till.”

Malleable, a horse that likes to race forward, has drawn awkwardly in barrier 12.

“He just needs a bit of luck from the barrier,” Ratcliffe added. “I’ll be telling Serg (Lisnny) not to go too hard into the first turn with him. Sometimes you can get speared off and trapped wide.

“We’ll bide our time working forward.”