KEMBLA TRAINERS EYEING PROVINCIAL-MIDWAY CHAMPIONSHIPS

THEY were winners in respective Benchmark races at their home track yesterday, and now have set their sights on an even loftier goal.

Kembla Grange trainers Kerry Parker and Diane Poidevin Laine are seeking to qualify horses for the $1m Provincial-Midway Championships Final (1400m) at Royal Randwick on April 11.

Whilst the Championships are nothing new to multiple Group 1 winner Parker, the 2026 renewal of the annual series will be a first for Poidevin Laine.

Parker clinched a last to first victory in the CG&E Benchmark 64 Handicap (1200m) yesterday with Equilibrist ($7), who shouldered his 60.5kg topweight to post his fourth win – and all have been at home.

But it’s the promising four-year-old Wild Thoughts whom he will run in the opening $150,000 Qualifier (1400m) at Hawkesbury on Thursday week.

In-form mare Audenzia, who made it three wins from her last four starts for Poidevin Laine in the Benchmark 64 Handicap (1600m), is also on target for the Provincial-Midway Championships, but perhaps not until her 1400m home track Qualifier on March 21.

Parker says Equilibrist has earned a shot at another Midway Handicap in town (he is not eligible for the PMC series) after sustaining a strong run down the extreme outside from last on the corner to defeat Tail Lung ($7.50) and Gooloo Bucky ($21).

Winning jockey Chad Lever has been associated with the gelding in his last three wins.

“Equilibrist goes well for Chad, and especially is hard to beat if he gets things to suit,” Parker said.

“He needs a solidly run race and can finish off as he did yesterday when they went along at a good clip.

“Also his best form is on rain-affected ground (his four wins have all been on wet tracks, including his 1600m Maiden breakthrough in October 2024).

“Equilibrist was runner-up in a 1200m Midway Benchmark 72 Handicap at Rosehill Gardens last July, and is racing well enough to deserve another try at a Midway in town.”

Parker is taking lightly-raced So You Think gelding Wild Thoughts (two wins and two placings from five starts) to Hawkesbury on Thursday week, hoping to go one better than a Qualifier there last year when his favorite Well Timed ran second to former local mare Mahogany Girl.

“Wild Thoughts had a nice break after stepping up to 1800m at Rosehill at the end of August for his first city start,” he said.

“Wild Thoughts has had a couple of trials, and is ready to kick off again at Hawkesbury next week.”

Wild Thoughts’ stablemate and last year’s Wagga Gold Cup winner Flying Bandit (both are raced by Proven Thoroughbreds syndicates) also is ready to begin a new campaign, at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday week in a 1400m Handicap.

“We’re not yet certain what his best distance is,” Parker said.

“There were a few questions left unanswered at the end of his last campaign (he was spelled after finishing 10^th in Royal Supremacy’s Group 1 The Metropolitan (2400m) at Randwick on October 4).

Meanwhile, Poidevin Laine has done a terrific job with five-year-old Brazen Beau mare Audenzia, whom she has started eight times since taking over her preparation last year, for three wins and four placings.

Her only unplaced run was indeed forgiveable when she finished fourth as an odds-on favorite in a 1600m Maiden Plate on a heavy ground at Goulburn last July.

“She bumped her head in the starting stalls, and had some blood though not a lot in her nostrils afterwards,” Poidevin Laine said today.

“The RacingNSW stewards could not be certain if that caused her bleed, but she had to have the mandatory three months off.”

Goulburn wasn’t the only incident either which might have cost the mare another victory.

“They forgot to take the pre-race ear muffs off her at the start when she ran third in a Provincial Benchmark 64 Handicap (1400m) at Kembla Grange on January 10,” Poidevin Laine said.

In fact, that resulted in RacingNSW stewards undertaking to conduct a review of pre-race processes with respect to the removal of pre-race ear muffs.

NSW jockeys’ premiership front-runner Pierre Boudvillain has partnered Audenzia in all eight starts under Poidevin Laine’s banner, including her defeat as a $4.20 favorite of Yabby Pump ($13) and Kirkuk ($10) yesterday.

“Audenzia is a beautiful mare, but can be a bit quirky,” Poidevin Laine said.

“We have to work out a program to get to the Provincial-Midway Championships, but the March 21 at home certainly looks suitable as she goes so well at home and the race is restricted to provincial horses only.”

STORY JOHN CURTIS, FEBRUARY 8,2026 - PICS BRADLEY PHOTOS