Albany trainer Steve Wolfe with strong nominations for Ascot carnival including star galloper Red Can Man

Albany has strong representation in the nominations for the 2022 Pinnacles that were released on Monday ahead of the Ascot carnival that begins next month.

Leading Albany trainers Steve Wolfe and Roy Rogers have horses entered in the revamped carnival while talented sprinter This’ll Testya, who has a big group of Albany owners, is also nominated.

Wolfe signalled his intentions at another big Ascot carnival tilt with five horses nominated across the five major feature races while Rogers’ sole representative is Kia Ora Star.

Stable star Red Can Man heads up the Wolfe team for the Pinnacles, entered in two $1.5 million features.

Catch These Hands, Ex Sport Girl, Make Your Point and River Rubicon are Wolfe’s other Pinnacles nominations.

Wolfe sent Red Can Man across to Victoria recently, his second interstate trip, where he finished fourth in the Group 2 Bobbie Lewis Quality and then ran eighth in the Group 1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes.

The six-year-old has won in excess of $1 million in prize money and bonuses and Wolfe has nominated him for the $1.5 million Group 1 Winterbottom Stakes (1200m) on November 22 and the $1.5 million Group 3 The Gold Rush (1400m) on December 10.

Promising four-year-old River Rubicon has won five of his nine career starts and is nominated only for The Gold Rush.

Wolfe has three-year-old gelding Catch These Hands nominated for the $1.5 million Group 1 Northerly Stakes (1800m) on December 3.

Catch These Hands ran fifth on debut at Northam earlier this month and is also entered in the $500,000 Placid Ark Stakes (1200m) on November 12 and the $500,000 Group 2 WA Guineas (1600m) on November 19.

Three-year-old filly Ex Sport Girl and three-year-old gelding Make Your Point are nominated for both the Placid Ark and the WA Guineas.

Veteran galloper Kia Ora Star, who joined Rogers’ stable last season, is entered in the Winterbottom and Gold Rush.

This’ll Testya, trained by former jockey and Albany resident Mitchell Pateman, had a career-best win in the listed Cyril Flower Stakes in February.

The speedy seven-year-old mare is nominated for the Winterbottom and Gold Rush as well.

Catch These Hands is set to have his second career start at Ascot in the 3YO Plate on Saturday.