KERCHAK GOES KAPOW

By Graham Potter | Friday, December 24, 2021

The statistics tell the story.

The David Vandyke trained Kerchak started at odds of $1.35 and won by 4.25 lengths in a Maiden Handicap over 1350m at Ipswich on December 24.

It was that simple.

The lightly raced three-year-old son of Tarzino came into only his second career start on the back of a runner-up on debut at the Sunshine Coast just over a month earlier over 1200m. With that race experience under his belt and the step up to a more favourable 1350m trip, the result was essentially never in doubt.

Kerchak, jumping from the worst of the draw, landed in the leading line with Ryan Maloney having no hesitation in letting Kerchak stride forward from there.

Within 150m Kerchak had already established a clear lead. Halfway down the back straight the $101 outsider Claudius did try to go up and annoy Kerchak, but Maloney hardly even acknowledged Claudius’s presence to his outside, instead sticking to his gameplan of keeping Kerchak in a comfortable galloping groove as he continued to dictate events from the front.

Coming to the turn, the field had closed up considerably compared to the early part, but Maloney had merely been biding his time and, once he gave Kerchak more rein turning for home … and just a gentle reminder the Vandyke runner increased the gap between first and second all the way down the home straight to salute in a soft win under what was, ultimately, a pretty gentle ride from Maloney.

When it is that clearcut … there is not much more to add on the race itself.

Kerchak was the ninth and final winner for the stable for the month of December.

Those nine winners came from only twenty-five individual staters … a thirty-six percent winning strike rate. This run of results included three runner-up finishes.

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