Kilim weaves Fannie magic

DARWIN trainer Kerry Petrick had more than just a good feeling her six-year-old Kilim would prevail in the $19,500 bet365 Handicap (1000m) at Fannie Bay on Friday.

The gelding was an impressive 2 ½-length all-the-way winner over Chris Pollard’s $1.70 favourite So Stoic, and Petrick envisioned it would be the outcome.

“I was very confident before he started. I just thought over 1000 metres he was going to be very hard to beat,” Petrick said.

“He’s vulnerable past 1000. But over 1000m he was superior against basically the same field in his last 1000m race.”

Kilim defeated So Stoic in the $21,000 Ladbrokes Handicap by 2½ lengths on December 30.

Experienced hoop Wayne Davis was in the saddle on Friday, guiding Kilim home in a good time of 56.24 seconds.

He, too, was confident of getting a win at $3.50 odds, with his horse carrying 58kg going into the short-distance sprint.

“Going into the race, I thought if he only went on his recent form his credentials over 1000m were impeccable,” Davis said.

“Kerry’s got the horse in such a fantastic headspace. It was a beautiful race for him and he executed it well.”

Davis was impressed with the horse in trackwork, who now has over $120,000 in career prizemoney after six wins from 49 starts.

“He’s a very big, powerful horse with a fantastic high cruising speed,” Davis said.

“Once he found the front, he travelled impeccably well within himself.

“It was very essential to keep him balanced around the corners with such a big-striding horse.

“Once he balanced up and showed an excellent turn of foot, he was very strong at the line for a great win.

“With Team Petrick, it was a fantastic all-round effort.”

Petrick said she planned to keep Kilim racing at around the 1000m mark.

“He’s a deadset 1000m horse and maybe he’ll get a little bit further,” she said, before adding there were no major plans moving forward. “No. We’ll just wait and see how he pulls up. Not chasing rainbows. Just taking it day by day. That was a very dominant win.”