And he has convinced Sydney apprentice Lester Grace to come to Muswellbrook to continue his successful association with the horse.

Grace has developed an affinity with the seven year old and has ridden him to wins at his last two starts, in the Black Nugget at Mudgee and in the Dubbo Cup.

Binnalong Road (pictured) is the undoubted class horse of the field but has paid the price with 61kgs and Grace cannot claim in the country.

“Lester rides him well and was keen to come to Muswellbrook,” Griffith said.

“The horse has paid the price for his consistency but it presents a real problem because while he keeps winning he is going to keep getting more weight.

“I would like to run him in the Muswellbrook cup next month but if he wins on Monday he will probably go up in weight again.

“He is not good enough to run against the carnival horses in Sydney at this time of the year so I have to pick the feature races in the country.

“I would love to win another Muswellbrook cup being an old Muswellbrook boy but we will have to wait and see what weight he gets.”

Griffith, who now trains at Mudgee, won the cup 2002 and 2003 with Sir Redford while that horse ran second to Precise Timing in 2004.

Binnalong Road shot to prominence earlier this year with a runaway win in the first heat of the Country Championship, run at Dubbo.

He was being hailed as a possible winner of the final so dominating was his win but an old leg problem flared up again and he never made it to Randwick.

“The leg is fine now, we know how to manage it but the bigger concern is the weights he is getting,” Griffith said.

The Pat Farrell trained Fort Sumter, bred to be a stayer but instead a successful sprinter, has drawn barrier three with Greg Ryan to continue his successful association with the horse.

Fort Sumter bounced back to form with a win over 1100 metres at Dubbo two weeks ago.

Warwick Farm trainer Jason Coyle is sending Magic Dallas for the race and he has drawn barrier six.

Two starts back the horse arrived in the last bound to win the feature sprint on Taree Cup Day then was outclassed when ninth in Saturday class at Rosehill.