All roads lead to Katherine on Saturday with 64 horses accepting for the eight-race meeting where $184,000 in prizemoney will be up for grabs.
The feature race is the $30,000 Katherine Cup (1700m) at the Jim Jackson Racecourse with seven of the eight runners backing up from Darwin Cup Day on August 5.
Phil Cole’s Saccharo (fourth), Chris Nash’s Son Of Bielski (fifth) and Gary Clarke’s Playoffs (sixth) finished behind Peter Robl’s Hadouken in the $200,000 Darwin Cup (2050m).
Chris Pollard’s Hamlet Von Snitzel (first), Clarke’s Pink Panther (second), Kerry Petrick’s Venting (fourth) and Neil Dyer’s Ziggi Rocks (fifth) contested an open 1600m handicap.
Yannick Valenti’s Mexi Cola from WA, who has had three starts in Alice Springs for two thirds, completes the field and will start as the rank outsider.
“It’s record acceptors for the annual Katherine meeting, the previous best was 63 back in 2018,” Thoroughbred Racing NT chief executive officer Andrew O’Toole said.
“There’s never been a better Katherine Cup field, but in general it’s a super meeting.
“It’s normally a six-race meeting, but you’ve got good support from Darwin trainers and Alice Springs trainers heading home.
“Neil Dyer will be there once again on his way back to Victoria.
“There’s an average of eight runners a race, there’s only one race with two dividends – all the rest are three.
“We’re delighted with the fields and there’s 11 jockeys, it should be a great day.”
Katherine Turf Club president Paul Mullins and his hard-working committee are ecstatic that their big day will accommodate eight races.
Last year, 43 horses featured on the seven-event program.
“It’s awesome to see and it’s something that we will embrace immensely, it’s definitely a good problem to have,” Mullins said.
“There’s a lot of highly-rated horses with quality coming down.
“Trainers have been able to give their horses a 12-day rest after the Darwin Cup.
“Kununurra and Broome are kicking in the next fortnight, so they’re passing through and there’s money available.
“It’s good to see that they’re looking after the Territory first.”
Two years ago, the KTC re-surfaced the sand track, and it was deemed too loose and soft, but it certainly received the stamp of approval last year.
However, the KTC has dealt with another issue in the build-up to Cup Day.
Damage was caused to sections of the running rail, with Council doing burn-offs inside the track.
“We managed to get some new running rail up from Melbourne, and we’ve repaired that,” Mullins said.
“The boys have done well; they’ve pulled together again as they do.
“Greatest bunch of volunteers in the world, I reckon.
“The track is fine – we’ve rotovated and rolled it and prepped it last weekend.
“Heavily watered and put to sleep, we’ll wake it up again and start watering it again Thursday and Friday.
“She should be a very good track to run on – TRNT stewards seemed happy with it last week when they gave it a tour.
“She’s not a pretty sandy beach-looking track anymore; it’s gone back to its off-milkshake colour.”
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