NT trainers have returned to Kununurra in WA for the two days of racing on August 24 and 31.
The Kununurra Race Club hosts its Ladies Day meeting this Saturday, with the $20,000 Slipper (1100m) headlining the seven-event program.
The $35,000 Kununurra Cup (1800m) on the grassed surface takes place next weekend.
Darwin trainers Tayarn Halter, Chris Pollard and Tom Logan, and Alice Springs trainer Kerry Petrick will have 35 of the 44 runners at Kununurra on Saturday.
For Halter, who had four winners on Day 1 last year, the Kununurra sojourn is a family tradition.
“My family has been supporting Kununurra for a very long time, I think I was one when I made my first trip over here,” she said.
“My grandfather Len Cant and dad Beaven Halter did it — my partner Lindsay (Schmidt) and I are trying to keep the tradition going.
“You never know how long these country meetings are going to last, so you try and support them while you can.”
Petrick, who won last year’s Kununurra Cup with Boom Boom Sweet, and Pollard will each have 13 runners on Saturday.
Halter will have six runners, while Logan will make his debut with three.
Halter and Petrick boast 22 wins in Kununurra, while Pollard has saluted 12 times.
Halter’s six-year-old gelding Raffalli, making this third trip to Kununurra, lines up in the Slipper.
The son of Choisir boasts three wins from four starts, and it would have been four from four had he not been disqualified in 2022 due to a weight discrepancy.
“He’s up in higher grade this year, he’s got to meet some pretty nice horses such as Throw At Da Stumps, Prince Ragnar and Kumicho on Saturday,” Halter said.
“It’s not going to be easy considering that he has been racing over 1300m in Darwin, he’s backing up after Katherine, but he loves the track.
“I think I’m a chance with The Stifmeister and my two mares (Madame Romanov and Freedom Day) are racing well, I’m A Dreamer is also racing well.
“I think the competition is pretty strong over here this year.”
With a top temperature 39C predicted for Saturday, the starting time for the Kununurra meeting has been brought forward to 9:34am AWST.
Petrick stablemates Boom Boom Sweet, Dip Me Lid, Real Divine, Throw At Da Stumps and New Roman, who have had success at Kununurra in the past, will be on deck on Saturday.
Top End jockey Adam Nicholls, who has impressed since coming back from a serious wrist injury, returns after posting five wins on Day 1 last year.
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