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Trainer Shannon Fry isn't too fazed by Sofin's outside draw in Friday's $85,000 Carlton Mid Coffs Harbour Cup (1600m) and believes his talented mare still 'ticks plenty of boxes' going into the race.

"I think she's the best horse in the race, she's in great form and has a jockey (Ben Looker) who knows how to ride her and has great confidence in her," said Fry, who trains just two horses at Bowraville, about 63km south of Coffs Harbour.

"We certainly aren't giving up hope because she drew an outside gate. It's not ideal of course, but she tends to get back anyway and I don't think the wide gate is that big an issue with her."

Fry's initial plan to win the Coffs Harbour Cup this year was thwarted by the weather when the race was originally scheduled for August 4. The meeting was washed out after 117mm of rain fell on the track in the space of 24 hours.

Sofin had 55kg and drew barrier seven back in August but has now jumped up to 59.5kg and has drawn barrier 16 in Friday's rescheduled race.

The six-yar-old mare has earned the extra weight with some excellent performances in the past few months.

"I'd set her for the Coffs Harbour Cup back in August and had been planning the race for six months," said Fry. "She was at her peak for that race and it was very disappointing that the race was washed out."

After the Cup was rescheduled to December, Fry had to formulate a new strategy. He headed to Sydney with Sofin where she ran very well in two starts at Rosehill - a close fourth to Allergic in the Premier's Cup Prelude (1800m) on August 13 before a 1.7 length sixth to Sense Of Occasion in the Premier's Cup (1900m) a fortnight later.

Fry then targeted the Port Macquarie Cup with Sofin. She won the Cup Prelude (1812m) on September 25 and then thrashed the Gai Waterhous and Adrian Bott-trained Caped Crusader by five lengths in the $103.000 Port Macquarie Cup (2000m) on October 7.

"After the washout in August, there wasn't much around for her so I had to take her to Sydney and she was very impressive in her two runs down there," he said. "Then she tackled the Port Macquarie Cup and winning that race the way she did was a great thrill.

"I really want to win my hometown Coffs Harbour Cup, so the best path after Port Macquarie was to freshen her up for the mile. It'll be eight weeks between runs for her going into Friday's Cup but I didn't want to push the parcel with her too much and give her another run in Sydney after Port Macquarie.

"She's already been so good to us this year, and it would be fantastic to finish off the year with a win in the Coffs Harbour Cup.

"And if she really won well on Friday and came through the race okay, we might even go back to Sydney and have a crack at the Villiers (at Randwick on December 17)."

Sofin certainly has been good to Fry and owner Bryron Fegan. A $6000 purchase at a Patinack Farm dispersal sale, the Casino Prince mare has collected just under $260,000 in prizemoney from her 39 starts.

Jockey Ben Looker is looking for three wins from as many rides on Sofin on Friday after teaming up with her for the first time in her last two Port Macquarie wins.

Sofin wasn't the only leading Coffs Harbour Cup contender to draw badly with Kim Waugh's topweight Dylan's Rojo drawing the extreme outside gate in the 16-horse field.

Gold Coast trainer Toby Edmonds, who won the race last year with Our Boy Nicholas, has accepted with La Spiaggia in Friday's Cup but has saved his other nomination, Mr Epic, for Saturday's Mount Franklin Quality (1500m) at Eagle Farm.

Friday's eight-race Coffs Harbour program also features the $35,000 Schweppes Ken Howard Cup (2000m), the $40,000 Coffs Harbour Toyota Daniel Baker Sprint (1200m) and the $40,000 AJ Pipelines Blinkan Missit (800m).

The rail is in the true position and the track is currently rated a soft 5.