Fresh from her win in the $135,000 Ladbrokes NT Derby last weekend, Top End trainer Kerry Petrick now has her eyes on the two biggest races before the end of the 2022 Great Northern Darwin Cup Carnival.
She hopes to start Our Luca in the $135,000 bet365 Palmerston Sprint (1200m) on July 30 and perhaps NT Derby winner Venting in the $200,000 Great Northern Darwin Cup (2050m) on August 1.
With a healthy rating of 76, Our Luca has booked his spot in the Palmerston – but his participation will be assessed after he runs in the $32,000 Novotel and Mercure Darwin Airport Flying Sprint (1100m) at Fannie Bay this weekend.
“In all honesty, it’s going to depend on his performance on Saturday,” Petrick said.
The eight-year-old, who arrived from Victoria at the start of last year, has had 20 starts in the NT for three wins in Alice Springs and just the one victory in Darwin.
On May 1, he finished third in the $100,000 Pioneer Sprint (1200m) in Alice Springs behind back to back winner Smuggling and Eastwood – both are also top fancies in the Palmertson Sprint.
“He went super, I thought,” Petrick said.
“We always sort of thought that he was a little bit doubtful at the 1200m, but I think now as he’s getting older it’s actually suiting him.
“It will be interesting to see if he’ll run the 1200m here if we decide to go that way.”
Our Luca, who also has four wins at Moonee Valley from 955-1200m on his CV, seemingly performs better in the Red Centre than in the Top End and Petrick has a theory.
“I just think that he has a little bit of trouble running down the hill here down the side off the back straight – whereas Alice is such a flat track,” she said.
“He’s quite big and he’s got a little bit of a problem with his knees – just a bit of calcification in the joints which causes him trouble running down the hill, but we’re on top of that at the moment.”
Our Luca had one more start in Alice Springs at the end of May lumping an extra 7.5kg (61.5kg) where he finished fifth in open company over 1000m.
The Bianconi gelding resumed at Fannie Bay on July 13 in open company over 1100m finishing fourth behind the in-form Ideas Man.
On Saturday, Our Luca’s regular jockey Casey Hunter will jump back on board.
“He blew up a little bit last start, did it a bit tough – although it was only a small field he worked quite hard out wide and he knew he’d had the run,” Petrick said.
“I’m expecting him to be a little bit fitter this time around.”
Meanwhile, the Petrick camp understandably celebrated Venting’s victory in the NT Derby.
Starting at $19 with Palmerbet, the Star Witness gelding – with Petrick’s good friend Paul Denton in the saddle – settled midfield before making his move approaching the home turn to overcome the leading $3.70 favourite Wolfburn in the home straight to seal victory by three lengths.
Success marked 25 years since Denton last won the NT Derby on the David Balfour-trained Rocket Flight, while for Denton and Petrick it was their 98th win as a combination.
Petrick and Denton won their first race together in Darwin with Better Western on February 8, 1997.
“That was just a terrific result – really, really, thrilled with that horse,” she said.
“He exceeded expectations in the fact that since I’ve had him I’ve been behind the eight ball.
“The owners sent him up to me probably a little bit too late.
“I felt the whole time that I was a couple of weeks behind where I should have been, which is why he didn’t run in the Darwin Guineas.”
Venting’s last start in Victoria was in March.
A first up seventh over 1200m (0-66) behind Noble War in Darwin on June 25 was followed by an encouraging second over 1600m (0-62) behind Wicked Addiction a week out from the Derby.
“When he ran in the mile race before the Derby he ran so super – the performance was amazing, I knew that I had a fairly handy horse,” Petrick said.
“He pulled up quite big after that run and then having to do a seven day back up from a mile to 2000m was my concern.
“I thought ‘my god, this horse is not going to be ready’, but he hit the line so hard and was actually accelerating at the line – so I could not have been more happier.
“I actually believe there’s massive improvement from that run, so yeah, exciting stuff.”
The owners of Venting, Lunar Mach, who debuts on Wednesday in the Top End, Boom Boom Sweet, who has already had a win during the Cup Carnival, and Mangione are based in Victoria.
“They made the decision that when everything opened up – they had been locked up down there in Victoria for so long – that they were coming to Darwin,” Petrick added.
“They bought these horses, spelled them on their property and got them ready.
“They sent them to me when I was in Alice Springs for the Cup Carnival and I worked on them there, and then we came up here to Darwin.
“The owners are here for a good time, not a long time.”
Finally, Petrick has confirmed that Venting will definitely race again during the Cup Carnival and after winning the NT Derby he is now exempt from the ballot for the Darwin Cup.
So will he race in the NT’s biggest race of the year?
“He’s nominated in the Cup – we’re going to just keep seeing how he has got over his Derby run,” she said.
“He’s a very tough horse, although he is incredibly immature.
“Realistically, he’s six months away from being a mature horse.
“But he’s big, he’s is strong – all he does is eat.
“There’s a fair possibility he will run in the Cup.
“That’s probably where we’ll go.
“If not, he’ll run in the average benchmark 2050m race on Cup Day.”
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