It was another big NT win for Kerry Petrick’s Venting after claiming the $30,000 Katherine Cup (1700m) on Saturday.
Ridden by Paul Denton, the six-year-old gelding pounced in the home straight to overcome Gary Clarke’s Pink Panther – the $2.80 favourite with online bookmakers – by 5.6 lengths with Neil Dyer’s Ziggi Rocks ($6.50) four lengths adrift in third place.
After winning the 2022 NT Derby (2050m) at Darwin with Denton in the saddle, Venting won the Alice Springs Cup (2000m) in April with Stan Tsaikos on board.
Now based in Alice Springs, Petrick and Denton, who have combined to win 126 races in the NT, have both won the Katherine Cup twice.
Petrick won in 2016 with Statue Of Warriors, while Denton saluted on Stephen Brown’s Tordean in 2001.
Jumping from the inside gate in the eight-horse field, Venting ($10) settled third on the fence behind Chris Pollard’s Hamlet Von Snitzel ($4.40) and Pink Panther.
Passing the 1100m, Venting, who had 12 Victorian starts for Stawell trainer Andrew Bobbin, was over-racing before finding his rhythm, and with 500m to go, he made ground on the leading duo.
Swinging for home, the son of Star Witness was forced three deep before hitting the front at the 300m.
Venting, who made it eight wins from 26 starts for Petrick, had five starts when he returned to Fannie Bay in June with his best effort a third.
Subsequently, he missed the Darwin Cup (2050m) on August 5.
Denton, who admits Venting is a pest during trackwork and on race day, was not only impressed how the gelding looked on debut in Katherine, but was full of confidence passing the 1000m.
“He dropped to 57kg, so his win today probably wasn’t a surprise because at his best he was always a chance,” Denton said.
“I wasn’t disappointed with him in Darwin, he drew bad gates and didn’t have much luck.
“Kerry took the blinkers off him in the Alice Cup and he won.
“He didn’t wear blinkers in Darwin, so we decided to put them back on – it just switched him back on.
“I thought he was keen today, it’s probably the best he has settled for me.
“The only thing that worried me was that I had to go too soon, once he hits the front he can start looking at things.
“I had to get into him, even though he won a by a big margin I knew that he was looking at the crowd and doing his usual bad habits.”
Denton is convinced that Venting’s Katherine Cup success was based on his conditioning at Grampians Racing, near Stawell, when under the care of Bobbin.
“Katherine’s sand track wasn’t as soft this year as it was the last time I rode here,” he said.
“At Grampians, they train and gallop their horses on sand dunes – Venting would be used to the heavy going.
“I had seven rides today and he travelled the best out of the whole lot of them on this surface.”
Horse racing news
