Jenny Graham and Kevin Owens form Port Macquarie's link to The Kosciuszko at Randwick Racecourse

However you describe Kevin Owens' success at being one of the 14 slot holders drawn out for The Kosciuszko on October 19, it doesn't really matter.

You see, Owens already had a link to the day at Royal Randwick through pre-race favourite and the Jenny Graham-trained Victorem.

He's part of a syndicate who owns the five-year-old bay gelding.

But this is where it gets interesting because Owens didn't nominate Graham's other hope Awesome Pluck to fill a slot.

He went with Uptrumpz before Awesome Pluck secured the last remaining slot on Thursday, meaning there will be a Port Macquarie connection to three of the 14 starters.

"I always knew Victorem would get picked up by someone and I was told when they do the 14 slot draws, they do another 14 as a backup and my name came first one out," Owens said.

"We went with Uptrumpz because we didn't know where Awesome Pluck was at because he had been out injured.

"We were worried that if we picked him and he didn't come up to speed or broke down again we'd get an emergency."

Owens knows what race day is like after his connection to Victorem, although he was looking forward to also spending time with the Uptrumpz syndicate.

"The owners of the horse from what we can gather have a small family connection who have probably never been to the races," he said.

"But some of us being with Victorem would have been going anyway so I'm going to have a foot in both camps on the day."

Graham was thrilled to learn of Awesome Pluck's fortune - albeit at the misfortune of the Danny Williams' Goulburn stable.

The Port Macquarie trainer said it was eerily similar timing to when she received the phone call last year that she would have her second runner in the race.

"It was about the same time, but may have been a little bit earlier," she said.

"It's lovely, even though my fortune is someone else's misfortune."

Preparations have been going smoothly for the Graham stable with Victorem winning a barrier trial at Rosehill on October 1.

"With that being his second trial and a trip to Sydney it basically toughens them up and makes them more solid going into a main race like that," she said.

Awesome Pluck was being prepared as though he would race anyway.

"It hasn't changed our preparations too much because it was in my mind if something went wrong with one of the other horses he may get in."

Graham now has a two-pronged attack ready for a shot at the $1.3 million country feature at Randwick.

"I've got an each-way bet because I know Awesome Pluck handles the wet and I know Victorem handles the dry," she said.

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