Trainer Joe Cleary eyeing Snake Gully Cup success with Landlocked Joe Cleary will send his dad Frank to Gundagai to keep watch over his Snake Gully Cup hope Landlocked. Queanbeyan trainer Joe Cleary is so confident his Gerry Harvey-owned Landlocked will run a good race in the $55,000 Snake Gully Cup (1400 metres) at Gundagai on Friday he's sending the "work experience kid" to look after him. To be fair, the so-called work experience kid in question has a pretty fair resume - two Black Opals, a Golden Slipper and four other group 1s to his name, and about 50 years' experience. Cleary said he's flat out at the moment so has asked his father Frank to look after Landlocked for the day. Joe Cleary rates the Nick Olive-trained Without A Shadow as the No.1 challenger in the feature race. He's set the eight-year-old gelding for the Queanbeyan Cup on November 29 and felt the Snake Gully Cup was the perfect lead-in race. If Landlocked can salute at Queanbeyan in a fortnight, then Cleary's name will be on it twice - he's the main sponsor of the race after he won that privilege in the Queanbeyan Race Club's innovative raffle to raise revenue. Cleary said he's had success at the Gundagai carnival, but is yet to win the Snake Gully Cup. "I've kept him nice and bubbly and fresh for tomorrow and looking forward to the Queanbeyan Cup on November 29 - and then he'll be off for a well-deserved spell," he said. I'm sending my father on work experience, I won't be live trackside. I'm just under the pump at the moment and dad's got a runner there tomorrow, so it's worked out good. Canberra trainers have had a strong grip on the Snake Gully Cup, winning it seven times since 1996, including four of the last eight. On Friday, Canberra and Queanbeyan trainers could have five runners in the field of 16, with Cleary believing Nick Olive's Without A Shadow will be the hardest to beat. Canberra's Olive is yet to win the Snake Gully Cup, but has two runners with Nat King Cu also making the trip. Barbara Joseph and Paul Jones have Back To Zero running, while Keith Dryden's Room To Boom is an emergency. "It's always a winnable race because it's basically the Queanbeyan and Canberra horses versus Southern District horses - you don't get many horses that come from the metropolitan area," Cleary said. They're a very even bunch of horses. I've got a very healthy respect for [Brett Cavanough's] Prince Pedro if he's on song - there's two of Prince Pedro. Nat King Cu was a great win in the Tony Campbell Cup; his form has tapered off a little bit since then. Without A Shadow, I think she's a Sydney-class horse and Nicko's placed that horse fantastically. He's done a great job with both those horses. Cleary said the $55,000 prizemoney was a big lure down the Hume Highway for Canberra and Queanbeyan trainers. Friday: Snake Gully Cup at Gundagai-Adelong Racing Club, 5.10pm