Norm Gardner sneaks into $500k Little Dance with Upper House

The Canberra trainer's Upper House has snuck into the field of 20 for the 1600-metre race at Randwick on Tuesday - after starting out as one of the two emergencies.

The scratching of fellow Canberra horse Toulon Brook, trained by Matthew Dale, opened the door for the eight-year-old to make the trip up the Hume Highway on Melbourne Cup Day.

Gardner said Upper House would handle whatever conditions Sydney provided - Randwick's currently a soft5, but more rain's expected before Tuesday.

He was hopeful they could finish in the top five or six.

"Doing the sums all the way along we thought we'd end up with a run," Gardner said.

"Looking forward to it. I'm very happy with him.

"Obviously realistically he's probably not a winning chance, but he'll run really well and he won't let us down, and he'll be up there somewhere at the finish."

Upper House finished second in the Snake Gully Cup at Gundagai last year to qualify for the Little Dance.

It's been the race Gardner's been aiming him at ever since Racing NSW announced the Big Dance/Little Dance concept would be added to the schedule.

The washout of the Tony Campbell Cup forced him to alter his plans and head up to Newcastle for a run last start instead.

He'll have jockey Jess Taylor on board - she's ridden him heaps of times, including in his Canberra Cup run last year.

"A mile is his best distance," Gardner said.

"It threw a spanner in the works when the Tony Campbell Cup was called off.

"So we had to then rush to Newcastle on the Saturday, over what was a little bit shorter distance than we wanted.

"He ran really well, copped a lot of interference. We've targeted it so he should be right on the day.

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"He's big odds ($201), but he's a trier and I'm sure he won't let us down."

Gardner felt Dr Drill and Dale's Five Kingdom were the horses to beat, despite both drawing the carpark - they're in barriers 21 and 20 respectively.

He also has three runners at Canberra's Thoroughbred park on Tuesday - Redhair'n'freckles, Genjiro and Markova.

Gardner rated Redhair'n'freckles as his best chance, while Genjiro was a good chance for a place.

"Redhair'n'freckles is racing very well. She's won two of the last three so she's a very good chance of winning," he said.

"There's a horse called Genjiro who ran very well last start at Canberra - he's a good place chance."

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