O’Neile may ‘dare to dream’ with Mr Chips

Well-supported favourite Mr Chips ($4.40 into $2.30) has potentially made a claim for a tilt at the 2026 Country Championships following a good win at Dubbo on Monday.

Trained by Troy O’Neile at Tamworth, the 5YO Casino Prince gelding was stepping up from a Class One to a Benchmark 66, but proved a class above his rivals, cruising to a comfortable win over the 1600m journey.

Having won three of his past four, including victories at Tamworth and Gunnedah, O’Neile admitted that there was a lot of hype around the June Baker-owned galloper.

“I’ll talk to June (Baker) this afternoon, and it will be a big conversation,” O’Neile said.

“June puts a lot of time and money into these horses, and it’s an honour to train for her, and I want to give her every opportunity

“If she wants to look at a (Country) Championships, will we dare to dream?

“We have got to get a rating, that’s the problem; we’ve got to get our rating up, so we’ll see what happens, and I’ll talk to June and go from there.”

The Hunter and North West Country Championships qualifier will be run and won over 1400m at Muswellbrook on March 8, and O’Neile was the first to acknowledge it would be a tall order to gain a start, let alone feature in one of the strongest heats ahead of the $1 million final at Royal Randwick on Saturday, April 4.

“It’s a very tough journey from here to get there,” O’Neile said.

“But if his rating goes up enough, as I said, do we dare to dream, that’s what it comes down to.”

Either way, O’Neile and Baker do look to have a nice horse in the Tamworth stable, and O’Neile was pleased to see Duggan getting the best out of Mr Chips.

“She got just the right tag (into the race), and Jenny’s got the key to him,” O’Neile said.

“She said she was going to ride her own race, and that she knew what she was going to do, and she was able to put it into play

“He’s taken the steps; it’s a good result.”

Words: Jeff Hanson

Image: Racing Photography