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Live sport on SN this weekendAndrew O’Toole’s Saturday best bets at Katherine (16/08)
Andrew O’Toole • August 16th, 2025 12:30 pm
The annual Ladbrokes Katherine Cup meeting takes place at Jim Jackson Racecourse today, and is always a much anticipated fixture on the Territory racing calendar. Coming so soon after the Darwin Cup Carnival, Katherine Cup Day attracts a crowd of over 1,500, and a good number of the visitors make their way down from the Top End to mix and mingle with the local racegoers – it really is the biggest day out of the year in Katherine.
The $30,000 Ladbrokes Katherine Cup is the feature, and the 1700m Benchmark 71 event has attracted a tremendous nine-horse field (10 runners is the limit at Katherine). Two former winners, Venting, who prevailed last year and finished 10th in the Darwin Cup on 4 August, and Hettinger, who scored in 2023, will again be on hand as they seek a second Cup win, and they will be joined by three other Darwin Cup runners, Picaroon, Holstein and Awash. It promises to be a stirring battle but I fancy Hettinger to keep his unbeaten record in Katherine Cups intact.
Trained by Neil Dyer, who has two Katherine Cups to his credit (Mywordsaidthebird in 2017 was his first) and is a great supporter of the country fixture, Hettinger, after finishing down the track in the Alice Springs Cup, recaptured his best form in Darwin with a win in the Palmerston Rydges Cup (1600m) on Ladies’ Day before two fine seconds, one behind Wolfburn in the Metric Mile, and at his most recent outing on Cup Day he went down narrowly to Seguso, a rival again here.
Hettinger is a specialist 1600m galloper, and obviously this 1700m is right up his alley. Katherine is very much a “horses for courses” circuit and having been and won here before, he makes plenty of appeal. He will be ridden by Kristo Sardelic, the WA rider who has been based in the NT for the past few weeks, and from an inside gate he will either lead or be close to the pace throughout. Hettinger’s win here two years ago was an easy watch, and although this field is somewhat harder, he should give a very good account of himself once again.
Venting, who scored by 5.5 lengths in this race last year and has since won the Tennant Creek Cup by a sizeable margin, must be the hardest to beat. His 10th in the Darwin Cup, beaten just over 12 lengths behind Hadouken, was not bad and he has been a good performer for a long time for trainer Kerry Petrick, who like Dyer, also has two Katherine Cups on her mantelpiece, her first coming courtesy of Statue Of Warriors in 2016. Another who always supports the country meetings, Petrick finished the Darwin Carnival with six winners to her credit and in Venting, she has a fine chance to keep that good run of form going.
Petrick will also line up Picaroon in the Cup. She finished sixth and beaten 9.4 lengths in the Darwin Cup and Paul Shiers, a two-time Katherine Cup winner, takes the mount here. The daughter of Fiorente has the topweight to carry and will jump from an outside gate, but she gets back in her races and will be looking to finish off strongly. She is another with a decent chance here.
Seguso, who has really appreciated getting out to 1600m lately, finished second two starts back over the trip before beating Hettinger in a dour struggle on Darwin Cup Day. Stan Tsaikos takes the mount again for Gary Clarke, who has saddled up three of the last six winners of the Katherine Cup. Anything the 13-time leading Darwin trainer brings to Katherine must be considered.
Stablemate Awash, who was eighth in the Darwin Cup, is another with claims. Jarrod Todd takes the reins and the 6yo son of Merchant Navy was in decent form leading into the big race on 4 August, so he should be allowed another chance. The trip should suit here.
Others in the event are Holstein (11th in the Darwin Cup), Seven Secrets, Aichi Icon (a stablemate of Hettinger) and Tubthumper, a former Darwin Guineas winner who also finished second in the NT Derby as a 3yo. All would have some chance on their best form but it will be a surprise if any could take the major prize here.
The weather in Katherine this week has been nice and fine, with a light to moderate breeze blowing mainly in the early afternoon. The official forecast for today reads: Sunny. Light winds becoming east to south easterly 15 to 25 km/h during the morning then becoming light during the afternoon. The temperature is forecast to reach 31 degrees during the day, and it will be down to 12 overnight. There is no chance of any rainfall.
The first race on the six-race card gets underway at 1.51pm (NT time), which is 2.21pm on the eastern seaboard, while the last is timed to go at 4.52pm (NT time), or 5.22pm in New South Wales and Victoria.
BEST BETS
R2 # 3 ORION THE HUNTERThree runs to date in Darwin during the Cup Carnival were good efforts, especially his last start when a strong-finishing third over 1200m on Palmerston Sprint Day. Hit the line strongly to be beaten less than two lengths by Tellez in quick time, and the drop back to 1100m should not be an issue. Gets the services of Paul Shiers here and in this six-horse line-up, will take plenty of beating.
R3 # 3 JUELENEAlthough a 22-start maiden, her two runs in the Top End so far have been first-class. Finished fifth fresh-up on 26 July behind Predicting, then chased home Villa Royale when third on 2 August. Tried hard on that latest occasion and from the inside draw here with the in-form Sonja Logan in the saddle, she should be right in the thick of the finish.
R6 # 3 HETTINGERQuality galloper who was a big winner of this event two years ago, scoring by close on eight lengths from Vallabar, who won the race the previous year. His last three runs in Darwin produced a win in the Palmerston Rydges Cup and seconds in the Metric Mile to Wolfburn and the Average Benchmark 1600m on Cup Day, narrowly beaten by Seguso. Drawn the ace (which he did last year), he should give a great sight as he seeks to keep his unbeaten record on the Katherine track intact.
SELECTIONS
JIM JACKSON RACECOURSE (KATHERINE) – GOODRACE 1 – 3, 4, 5, 1RACE 2 – 3, 5, 4, 2RACE 3 – 3, 1, 2, 6RACE 4 – 1, 5, 2, 7RACE 5 – 1, 3, 5, 2RACE 6 – 3, 2, 1, 5
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