August cup day is boost for club

THE 2015 Katherine Cup meeting has been moved to the Saturday after the Darwin Cup on August 8 next year.

Darwin Cup winning horse Saturday Sorcerer ridden by jockey Paul Denton. Picture: ELISE DERWIN.

THE 2015 Katherine Cup meeting has been moved to the Saturday after the Darwin Cup on August 8 next year.

Thoroughbred Racing Northern Territory agreed in principle at its meeting last Thursday to the request for the change from the Katherine Turf Club.

KTC secretary Bob Woodhouse said the club had asked for the cup meeting to be put back two months from mid-May to improve horse quality and numbers.

Woodhouse said the meeting would like to attract about 42 horses, with seven in each of the six races, to make it a good day. This year numbers were down to 35.

“Holding the meeting after the Darwin Cup would hopefully attract horses that were heading back south after the Carnival,” Woodhouse said.

The new date also brings the cup meeting in line with the Katherine Festival.

Katherine held two race meetings a year in the 1970s but the major flood of 1998 had a devastating affect on the club, from which it is still recovering.

Thoroughbred Racing Northern Territory chief executive Andrew O’Toole said the change made sense.

“The dates for next year do not have to be ratified until next May but the board has discussed it and agreed to go ahead with Katherine’s request,” O’Toole said.

Meanwhile, Saturday Sorcerer will have his first outing since winning the Darwin Cup a month ago in tomorrow’s Balaklava Cup (1600 metres).

Trainer Stuart Gower said the five-year-old gelding, to be ridden by Jarrod Todd, had coped well with the long return trip from the Top End and was primed for the feature event.

“He travelled back that well that we changed our plans to send him for a spell. It’s too cold (in Adelaide) to turn him out,” Gower said.

“He will now run in the Balaklava Cup and in the Birthday Cup (1800m) at ­Morphettville.”

Saturday Sorcerer faces stiff opposition to win his third ­feature race in a row with Justify That also having plenty of local interest.

Trained by Peter Moody, the son of King of Prussia is co-owned by Sky City Darwin chief executive Brad Morgan and Alice Springs racing identities Andrew Doyle, Craig Reid and Nigel Moody, the son of the trainer.

Darwin trainers made a clean sweep of the seven-race card at the Kununurra Cup meeting on Saturday.

Dick Leech had three winners — De Souba Star, Art for Arts Sake and Brush Off. Tayarn Halter was successful in the opening race with Arrised and with Roman Eye in the fourth. But it was Chris Pollard who stole the show winning the sixth race with Kirkham and the Cup over 1800m with Igles Star. Phillip Crich was in the saddle for both and had three seconds on board Corona Girl, Coolbie and Bugsy.