Trainer Brad Widdup is confident Owen County has a decent future as a stayer but he won’t be throwing the gelding in the deep end regardless of his performance at Warwick Farm on Wednesday.

The four-year-old has his confidence up with successive benchmark 64 wins at Gosford and Hawkesbury and has his sights set on a hat-trick in the Ghaiyyath First Yearlings Handicap (2110m).

While Owen County does hold a nomination for the group 1 Schweppes Sydney Cup (3200m), where he has been allocated 50kg, Widdup is looking to hit the pause button in favour of easier targets post-autumn.

“I’ll probably give him this run and freshen him up for the winter, I don’t want to go too much deeper now it’s carnival time,” Widdup said.

“We’ve given him a nice slow preparation to get him out to these distances and, unfortunately, we’ve run out of time with the carnival being here.

“There should be more opportunities during the winter. He likes a bit of cut [out] of the ground and there’ll be more suitable races.”

Owen County joined Widdup from John Sargent late last year and when he scored at Gosford – his first win since May 2022 – it was his first attempt at 2000m and beyond since finishing midfield in Sharp ‘N’ Smart’s group 1 Spring Champion Stakes.

“To be fair to Sarge he always wanted to get him there but he had a setback,” Widdup said.

“He was always destined for this and I think he’s a horse that’ll run 2400m on his ear.”