Trainer Craig Ritchie is hoping to end his winter "holiday" with a Listed Queensland Cup victory with former rogue Solid Billing at Eagle Farm.Ritchie, 38, a son of well-known Kiwi trainer Frank Ritchie of Bonecrusher fame, has been in Brisbane since early May when he arrived with one horse, Solid Billing, to contest the winter staying races."I only brought one horse with me and it's been the best holiday for nearly three months I've ever had," Ritchie said.Ritchie admits he has some reservation

Trainer Craig Ritchie is hoping to end his winter "holiday" with a Listed Queensland Cup victory with former rogue Solid Billing at Eagle Farm.

Ritchie, 38, a son of well-known Kiwi trainer Frank Ritchie of Bonecrusher fame, has been in Brisbane since early May when he arrived with one horse, Solid Billing, to contest the winter staying races.

"I only brought one horse with me and it's been the best holiday for nearly three months I've ever had," Ritchie said.

Ritchie admits he has some reservations whether Solid Billing can stay the 3200 metres of Saturday's Queensland Cup but takes confidence from rider Eddie Wilkinson's opinion following the gelding's fifth to Ironstein in last week's Listed Caloundra Cup (2400m)

Wilkinson allowed Solid Billing to lead the Caloundra Cup field by more than six lengths in the middle stages before the Kiwi stayer faded in the straight.

"Eddie is confident the horse can run 3200 metres but I'm only fifty-fifty," Ritchie said.

"It was a good run at Caloundra but I didn't expect Eddie to go that fast on him and I didn't think Our Lukas would chase us like he did.

"Eddie rode him the right way as he's the type of horse that needs to roll along. If Our Lukas hadn't chased us like he did then I believe we might have run a place in the Caloundra Cup."

Ritchie has only been training on his own for the past four years and brought Solid Billing across the Tasman to win the Group Three Summer Cup (2400m) at Randwick on Boxing Day.

Ritchie was training in partnership with his father when Wilkinson was an apprentice with the stable.

"Eddie was apprenticed to Dad when I was in partnership with him," Ritchie said.

"He won a South Australian Derby and another Group One for us at home on Showella."

Ritchie, who has a team of 25 horses in work in New Zealand, is yet to train a Group One winner since branching out on his own but did win several alongside his father.

"When I was with Dad we won about seven or eight Group Ones together but I haven't won one yet since going it alone," he said.

"My brother, Shaun, has had a big year winning the New Zealand Derby, New Zealand Oaks and New Zealand Cup with three different horses."

Ritchie rates Solid Billing a similar type of stayer to Gorgeous George who the Ritchies trained when the gelding was runner-up to Art Success in the Group One Brisbane Cup (3200) at Eagle Farm in 2006.

"He's very similar to Gorgeous George who liked to roll along in front and he's come a long way since he had a few issues as a young horse," he said.

"He was a handful to work when he was younger. He wouldn't go out on the track to work of a morning and when he did he would bolt.

"He also had problems tying up and it took me six months to get him right."

Ritchie rates fellow Kiwi Tinseltown the main threat to him landing his first Queensland winner with Solid Billing.

"Tinseltown is certainly the best horse in the field but there's some doubt whether he can run the journey," he said.