Northfield nurtures Kooringa Lucy back to the top

By Isaac Murphy

Kooringa Lucy was on a roll following a fourth in the Group 1 Gold Bullion, and a hattrick of wins over the middle-distance before a 42-day layoff after coming on season.

However, if her first run back in tough company at Casino is anything to go by, she’s picked up where she left off and will look for a fifth straight win for Mitch Northfield this Thursday night at Albion Park.

Northfield said he wasn’t too bothered about the timing of the season knowing that she should hopefully be back to her best for a raft of suitable races on the horizon.

“She’s been very impatient as soon as she came on season, she’s been going around the place like she still wants to race,” he said.

“Five weeks is a pretty short spell when she’s going to be in season for up to 11, but we had to pull the trigger and get back to the track with her.

“We started her off at Casino against Mal Ross’s Casino Cup winner Phantom Bonnie and we beat her by two lengths and immediately thought that it’s time for Albion Park.

“I’m still going to be cautious with her and space her starts in the near future and hopefully ramp things up closer to some nice races in the Winter Carnival up in Brisbane.”

Kooringa Lucy’s pre-season 600-metre tear has opened a new door for Northfield, with the bitch holding bests of 29.69 over the 500 and 34.66 over the 600, putting her firmly in the star category at both trips.

“We thought for a long time she’d do well over the middle-distance but it’s good to know going into the next few months if she’s sound we can pick and choose races over both distances,” Northfield said.

“That was the plan last preparation, we built her up at Lismore and Casino, then went to Albion and ran fourth in a Gold Bullion, by that point we knew she was ready for the step up.

“Wanting to give her every opportunity at the new distance, we sent her up full-time to Selena and Mick Zammit who did a great job knocking some races off for us before she came home when she came on season.”

Kooringa Lucy is back in Northfield’s name after an unfortunate turn of events, but the trainer’s making the best of a bad situation.

“I do my full-time trade as a plasterer and managed to break my right hand and injure my shoulder at work, so with plenty of time I thought it’d be a good opportunity to get back to training her myself,” he said.

“It’s been good for both of us having her at home, it keeps me busy day in day out and I always get a pretty good read on how she’s going through her season.

“I wouldn’t rule out asking Selena and Mick to take her back at some point in the future - I know she’s in great hands there - but she’ll stay put for now.”

Kooringa Lucy’s 18 wins have her staring down the $100,000 prizemoney mark and while she’s given Northfield plenty of thrills, he knows she’s got more.

“She’s been around the mark in a lot of Group finals over her career, but if we do our job and keep her ready, she’ll get it done one day,” he said.

“She certainly doesn’t owe us anything, it’s been a great ride already, but you always like to see them fulfill their potential and she’s a Group bitch every day.

“There’s not many like her that can do it with early speed and also kill you in the run home, she’ll measure up to anyone at her best.”

The Northfield family are a training and breeding powerhouse in northern New South Wales and Kooringa Lucy is trying to fill some big footsteps left by her mother.

“She’s turned into one hell of a chaser, sometimes to keep her fitness up we’ll run her over the shorts down here which doesn’t suit, but she tries her heart out every time,” Northfield said.

“We raced the mother Mitcharlie Mia who was a champion for us, 38 wins from the 400 right up to 600, she knew how to find the line - there’s plenty of her in Kooringa Lucy.

“Her latest litter are to Zambora Brockie and at 12-months-old are doing all the right things, you never know until they come of age but it’s looking promising.”