Underdog to carry SW hope for Inters

Thirty elite horses will contest the Inter Dominion series and in a classic underdog story, one of them is trained in a Bunbury stable that only has two horses.

Lovers Delight, an eight-year-old gelding originally from New Zealand, has been trained by Bunbury's Stephen Reed for the past year.

Unless Bunbury Cup winner and Inter Dominion emergency Smokey The Bandit secures a start, Lovers Delight will carry South West hopes in the series and the 32-year-old part time trainer believes his horse is a good chance.

"He's always had plenty of ability and been capable of running in a series like this," Reed said.

"He has had a lot of leg issues and I thought my training techniques might help his legs by not running him on hard tracks.

"Having only two horses means I can put a lot of time into him and focus on the 'one percenters'.

"He's very underrated - he's beaten a lot of the horses ranked above him in betting and I give him quite a good chance."

Reed said beating the best and winning the Inter Dominions would realise a lifelong dream.

He believes having one heat in Bunbury will help ease his horse's travel burden, which would otherwise have to go to Perth for three heats and a possible final within two weeks.

Lovers Delight began as a $101 outsider in betting to win the series but shortened to $61 after drawing barrier one for tomorrow night's opening heat at Gloucester Park.