Derryn can maintain form in Kingsford-Smith Cup

Lindsay Park co-trainer David Hayes is expecting his promising three year old Derryn to maintain his good form when he takes on the older horses again in Saturday’s Group 1 $700,000 Darley Kingsford-Smith Cup (1300m) at Eagle Farm.

Derryn, above, is in good form going into the Kingsford-Smith Cup at Eagle Farm. Photo by Steve Hart.

Derryn, above, is in good form going into the Kingsford-Smith Cup at Eagle Farm. Photo by Steve Hart.

Saturday will see the first running of the weight for age Kingsford-Smith Cup which replaces the Group 1 BTC Cup which was run over 1200m at Doomben.

Derryn was able to beat his own age group when he ran on strongly to take out the Group 2 $600,000 Arrowfield 3yo Sprint (1200m) at Randwick on April 8 and then repeated that dashing finish to fill third spot behind the older sprinters Redzel and Counterattack in the Group 1 $700,000 James Boag’s Premium Doomben 10000 (1200m) at Doomben on May 13.

Hayes, who trains in partnership with his son Ben and nephew Tom Dabernig, said that Derryn could have finished closer than the three quarters of a length that the form guide shows after being held up for a run in the straight and he is happy with the way the Hinchinbrook colt has come through the run.

“He could have easily finished a little bit closer, got held up a little bit in traffic coming through, but barrier five, there is a bit of give in the track,” Hayes told Sky Racing’s HQ.

“Really happy. We haven’t done a lot of work with him because he is extremely fit. He did a bit of maintenance work on Tuesday on the A grass and he came through with flying colours.”

“Hopefully he can hold his form.”

Prior to his run in the Doomben 10,000, Derryn had come through a tough Sydney Autumn Carnival campaign with three runs on rain affected tracks but Hayes is adamant that the colt is still in top older and another soft track at Eagle Farm on Saturday will suit him.

“He goes on all conditions but if it is wet it doesn’t bother him,” Hayes said.

“He handled those Sydney tracks so I think he will handle anything.”

The Eagle Farm track was rated a heavy 8 on Thursday morning for Kingsford-Smith Cup Race Day but track manager Sean Bridges is expecting an upgrade into the soft range before the weekend if the weather holds out.

“It is a beautiful drying day up in here in Queensland today so hopefully it might get back to a soft 7,” Bridges told racing.com.

Derryn drew barrier five in the original drew but will move in one space in the thirteen horse field following the scratching of the Bjorn Baker trained Egyptian Symbol who will be running against the fillies and mares in the Group 3 $150,000 Glenlogan Park Stakes (1300m) earlier in the day.

Melbourne jockey Mark Zahra was aboard Derryn for his win in the Arrowfield 3yo Sprint and finds himself back on the three year old replacing the injured Regan Bayliss who was his Doomben 10,000 pilot.

The Darren Weir trained Black Heart Bart sits at the top of the Ladbrokes.com.au market order for the Kingsford-Smith Cup at $3.30 while Derryn shares the second line of betting at $6.50 with the Kris Lees trained Clearly Innocent.

About The Author

Mark Mazzaglia

Mark is a passionate journalist with a life-time involvement in the racing industry. He spent many years as an analyst and form expert at the Courier Mail and also has hands-on experience working with some of Queensland’s top trainers.