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Leading Canberra trainer Nick Olive has a birthday wish to win Friday’s $70,000 Snake Gully Cup at Gundagai.

Olive will celebrate his 45th birthday on Friday and sees winning the Snake Gully Cup (1400m) for the first time after a string of frustrating placings in the feature race as the perfect birthday present.

Olive has trained three minor placegetters in the Snake Gully Cup since 2011. His classy sprinter Capital Commander was runner-up twice in successive years in 2011 and 2012 and he was third in 2016 with Nat King Cu.

His hopes this year lie with the topweight Bring A Secret. The five-year-old, to be ridden by Nick Souquet, has to contend with 58.5kg but is well drawn in gate six after he endured a tough run from a wide barrier at his last start when finishing tenth over 1400m at Rosehill on November 4.

Souquet is aiming for his second win in the Snake Gully Cup, recording his first victory on Green Waters for Canberra trainer Keith Dryden in 1999.

Olive said the Snake Gully Cup is a race he has been eager to win for several years as a number of his stable clients live in Gundagai with several being part-owners of his Group One winner Single Gaze.

“I would love to win it with Bring A Secret,” Olive said.

“The horse is going great and his track work on Tuesday was terrific.”

Canberra trainers have won the Snake Gully Cup seven times since 1996 and they are set to play another strong hand with seven acceptors coming from the National Capital.

Matt Dale, the Keith Dryden/Scott Collings partnership, Barbara Joseph and Paul Jones, Daryl Rolfe and Gratz Vella are other Canberra stables with Snake Gully Cup runners.

Dale, with a record three wins, Dryden (2), Joseph and Vella are all past Snake Gully Cup winners.

The Joseph/Jones team have two strong chances with the in-form pair Rock On Zariz and Mercurial Lad after they finished first and third in a strong 1400m event at Wagga two weeks ago.

Dryden and Collings are also double handed with Beau Tirage and Ziganui, who is resuming but is expected to be strongly fancied due to his excellent fresh record and 1400m form, having a win and three placings from his four starts at the trip.

The prospect of a rain affected track will also suit Ziganui, who was placed on heavy ground in the Country Championship heat at Goulburn and the Final at Randwick in the autumn.