Kerchak on trial for Sydney trip

By Glenn Davis

Trainer Ben Ahrens has stopped short of declaring promising stayer Kerchak equal to his best horse Spechenka but a similar path to Sydney could be in the pipeline if the gelding wins the Mooloolaba Cup at the Sunshine Coast on Saturday.

Ahrens has been training for more than two decades and first hit the headlines with Spechenka who won the Group 3 Summer Cup at Randwick in 2010.

Spechenka finished his career with 12 wins and seven placings from 62 starts and more than $527,000 in prizemoney.

Among Spechenka's wins were the Listed Caloundra Cup in 2011 and Group 3 Queen's Cup in 2012.

Ahrens was a former physiotherapist who worked at the Logan Hospital and was assigned to the 2000 British Olympic squad helping its swimming and gymnastics teams before taking on a training career.

Kerchak, a Cody Collis mount, has drawn the outside barrier in the Mooloolaba Cup but it doesn’t concern Ahrens.

“He’s got a wide draw but we always ride him quiet and let him drop out so the alley won’t worry him,” Ahrens said.

“He’s dropping back in distance to 1600 metres which is more of a worry.”

Ahrens rates Kerchak a day-to-day proposition after he paid a paltry $3,000 for him at an online auction.

“He had a couple of years off with a tendon injury but he obviously had a lot of ability as he came to us with two wins from his first three starts,” Ahrens said.

“A lot of horses with tendon injuries like he had don’t come back but he has so far.

“I don’t work him much and his legs are iced every day after trackwork and I also have him massaged all over so he doesn’t favour one leg.

“A chiropractor also comes in to work on him every two weeks and he does a lot of swimming.”

Kerchak has been restricted to 14 starts in his career and is a seven-time winner.

The son of Tarzino was bred by Gerry Harvey and was originally purchased for $25,000 at the Magic Millions National yearling sales.

“Being by Tarzino he’s bred to stay so we’re hoping he’ll get 2000 metres,” Ahrens said.

“He went through the Magic Millions sale but I’m not sure whether he’s paid up for the Magic Millions.

“If he brings his 'A game' to the races on Saturday, he’ll be hard to beat and then we may look at going south for the Summer Cup at Randwick.”