Newcastle’s Kris Lees chases his first win in the WJ McKell Cup 2020 at Rosehill on Saturday with his five-horse contingent led by race favourite Attention Run.

Attention Run is tipped to win the 2020 WJ McKell Cup at Rosehill on Saturday. Photo: Steve Hart.

There are 13 remaining stayers in this year’s Listed $120,000 W J McKell Cup (2000m) on Civic Stakes Day and Lees and rival trainer Chris Waller saddle-up 10 of the runners between them.

It is the Lees-trained Hurricane Run mare Attention Run tipped to salute, the German-bred grey sitting top of the WJ McKell Cup odds at $4.20 through Ladbrokes.com.au.

Drawn well in gate four with Andrew Adkins to ride on 53kg, the European expat drops notably in weight after carrying 57.5kg to victory first-up at the track on July 13 over 1800m in a Benchmark 88.

Up in grade and distance she should be flying with the lesser kilos on Saturday presenting fitter second-up and ticking plenty of boxes after saluting by nearly two lengths last time out.

“She gets track conditions to suit, she’s won at the track and she will appreciate a step up in distance,” Lees said of Attention Run speaking to the media this week.

“In a perfect world I would probably have her runs a little more spaced. That’s the only negative I can really find.”

The other Lees-trained horses in the WJ McKell Cup field for 2020 are: last year’s Group 2 Brisbane Cup winner Sixties Groove ($7.50) carrying plenty of weight with 60kg, former Melbourne Cup fourth placegetter (2017) Big Duke ($15), the rails-drawn Frankley Awesome ($19) backed in early from an opening quote of $31 and the stable’s outside Mongolian Wolf ($41).

Of those, Lees labelled his 2000m specialist Sixties Groove and Group 1 placed Big Duke as his other threats in the race.

“They’re the two class horses of mine that have raced at a very high level,” he said.

The five-horse Waller assault on the WJ McKell Cup field meanwhile is led betting-wise by Carzoff ($6) who comes off a lead-up second at the track in the Listed Winter Cup (2400m).

Waller ran the trifecta in the Winter Cup with Carzoff finishing between Wu Gok (1^st) and Yulong Prince (3^rd) and he is after another white-wash in the McKell Cup on the weekend.

Chasing a third straight win this prep having won both the Listed Lord Mayors Cup (2000m) and Winter Cup at Rosehill is Wu Gok, the Sebring six-year-old also at $6 in WJ McKell Cup betting.

Adam Hyeronimus continues his successful association on the in-form galloper this weekend with Wu Gok going up in weight again from 59.5kg to 61kg making the task of a Rosehill winter staying hat-trick a little tougher.

Waller is also represented in the race on Saturday by The Lord Mayor ($12) in the outside alley, Black On Gold ($19) and roughie shot Herengawe ($31).

The other best fancied runner equal on $6 with Carzoff and Wu Gok is the Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young-trained Sully.

Sully jumps from a midfield barrier carrying 54kg in the event third-up.

The Reliable Man gelding enjoyed some big runs last spring including his third in Caulfield’s Group 2 Herbert Power Stakes (2400m) and is out to improve on his sixth in the Swan Hill Cup (1600m) last start when carrying 58.5kg.

Co-trainer Busuttin believes the drop-in weight and the Heavy Rosehill track on Saturday will both play into Sully’s favour.

“I thought he ran well last-start at Swan Hill over 1600 metres which was short of his best, but more so the track was unseasonably hard for this time year,” he told AAP.

“He’s had a few injuries and he probably needs a wet track to let down on so we looked to this race.

“There was the 2000 metre-race at Caulfield on Saturday but we’ve opted to go to the McKell Cup for the wet track, and also the weight scale is a big thing.

“He had 61kg in Melbourne compared to 54kg in Sydney so it’s a bit of a no-brainer as far as the weight scale is concerned.”

Click here for the latest WJ McKell Cup 2020 betting odds thanks to Ladbrokes.com.au.

2020 W J McKell Cup Field & Barriers

*Table Credit: Racing Australia.