Hickman – who was born in Gunnedah and started his training career there before moving to Warwick Farm in 1990 – also nominated Braces for the metric-mile feature, which was washed out on May 28 and rescheduled for Monday, but revealed the six-year-old gelding will not run.

The seven-race TAB Cup meeting had received 124 nominations by Tuesday.

Dream Folk is a son of Dream Ballad Dream Folk, and has won seven of his 59 races for $290,955 in prize money for his Walcha syndicate, which includes Brian Turton and Matt Macarthur-Onslow.

“Dream Folk will have a gallop in the morning and we’ll see what the weights play,” Hickman said on Wednesday. “If everything is sweet, he will go.”

He said the fact Dream Folk is owned and raced by a Walcha syndicate was a major factor in his nomination.

Gunnedah Jockey Club secretary Mark Storey said he had hoped for more Cup nominations but the quality of the nominations is better than expected.

He said the nominations of Hickman’s two horses was a major lift to the quality of the field.

“We’re really happy with the calibre of the horses for the Cup,” he said.

“Should be a good race and a great day.”

2017 Gunnedah Cup nominations (benchmark ratings listed in brackets): Alsoknownas (Peter Englebrecht) 61, Avroson (Brett Cavanough) 65, Braces (Greg Hickman) 71, Cocktail Time (Peter Mills) 62, Dream Folk (Hickman) 67, Evangelist (Lea Selby) 73, Husswick (Rod Northam) 70, Maybe Even You  (Shane Edmonds) 60, Mishani Scout (Shane Edmonds) 61, Mishani Stealth (Shane Edmonds) 68, Miss Tickles (John Bannister) 70, Mysticism (Campbell Roberts) 55, Nissile (Damien Lane) 64, Present Sense (Craig Martin) 73, Richard The First (Max Crockett) 73, Safety Peg (Nancy Stewart) 59, Something Borrowed (Justin Stanley) 72, Testability (George Woodward) 63, Who Is Game (Michael Byers) 69.