BY TOM BARBER - Daily Liberal 7 March 2023

Dubbo trainer Clint Lundholm has dominated the nominations for the WRA Country Championships qualifier at Coonamble on Sunday.

Lundholm has put forward 10 horses of the 18 nominated after the nominations were released on Tuesday morning.

Amulet Street, Ferus, Hit The Rim and Listen To The Band have all been nominated while Brett Robb is the only other trainer with multiple horses.

Amulet Street made last year's final via a second in the qualifier and then gave Lundholm and the horse's owners a huge thrill when, as a $51 chance, he loomed up as a huge threat in the straight before finishing third in the $500,000 final at Randwick.

Even though the horse didn't win, it still rated as the highlight of what was a real go-ahead year for the former jockey in the training profession. And the upward spiral has continued in the 2022-23 season.

"Business has been great," Lundholm said. "Over the last two years we've invested pretty heavily in our yearlings and stock in general. Owners out west have stock solid behind us and that's helped us along.

"Last year we finished fourth on 47-and-a-half winners in the country premiership, just short of our goal of 50, and this year we're sitting second on the ladder with 42, well on our way to hitting 60.

"We're stoked with how it's going and it's the result of all of the hard work the whole team puts in."

Listen To The Band is an eight-year-old gelding that didn't race until he was five and then after a winless first campaign had two years off because of injury.

The horse was originally trained by Gayna Williams and Lundholm has only had charge of him since he came back into work for his latest campaign.

That campaign has seen Listen To The Band win four out of five starts and roar into calculations for this series with a stylish win in a Country Championships Class 4 Preview race over 1312 metres at Dubbo on February 13.

"I think this is what the Country Championships is all about, a fairytale story like this with Listen To The Band," Lundholm said.

"I don't think you'll find any story better than this. He's eight years old, won four from eight now, in career-best form obviously and he's a leading contender in our qualifier.

"He's a horse that oozes ability and here he is doing it in his later years. If he makes the final it would be a huge pat on the back for everyone who's involved in the stable and I'd love to do it for the owners who have been great in their support for us."

Brett Robb looks to be Lundholm's biggest rival after nominating Billiethefillie, Boom Boom Basil and Sizzle Minizzle.

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