King Cratos Sets Derby Pace

LEADING trainer Jason Magri will be searching for his first feature race victory north of the border when fastest qualifier King Cratos takes his place from box two in Thursday night's Group 2 Queensland Derby Final (520m) at Albion Park.

Hugely impressive landing his Derby qualifier in a slippery 29.92s last Thursday, King Cratos booked his trip to Brisbane with a sizzling 29.74s trial at Albion Park a week earlier, that hit-out fresh off an outstanding second in the Group 3 New Sensation Final at Wentworth Park on Easter Saturday.

"Every time I raise the bar with King Cratos he steps up to the plate, he's still learning but I couldn't be happier with how he's going," said Magri.

"I've been up to Brisbane a few times in the past couple of years and I've had this race in mind for King Cratos for a while.

"If anything I would have liked for him to have come out a bit better in his heat but his back section and the way he finished off was great. He'll get his chance from box two in the final, it looks an ideal draw."

With a cool $40,000 awaiting winning connections, Thursday night's final has brought together a crack field of male gallopers, with the remaining two qualifiers going the way of Victorian Onion's O'Reilly in 30.13, while Queenslander Broken Loose was a narrow winner of the final heat over Sennachie in 30.17.

"I've got plenty of respect for Sennachie – he's the one to beat for sure," said Magri of the Group 1 Maturity Classic runner-up.

"I know he'd trialled at the track as well and he was only narrowly beaten in his heat. Painted Picture looks the leader in the five so from box two King Cratos should get right behind him, he's pulled up great from the heat run."

Not one to get bogged down in past achievements or statistics, Magri was rather laid-back when told of his current winning strike-rate of 40%, including wins with 10 of his past 15 starters.

So far in 2019, the Kemps Creek based conditioner has rugged up 72 starters for a remarkable 40 winners, included in those victories Catch Me Curly's Group 2 Richmond Derby success and Zipping Falcon's Listed Ultra Sense win at Wentworth Park.

"The second you start looking at that kind of stuff is when things turn upside down," declared Magri.

"We've got a good team of dogs here and everyone's doing their job, especially Luke Adams who is my right-hand man, he's a huge help to the kennel."

Betting for the Group 2 Queensland Derby decider sees King Kratos (box 2) a $2.50 favourite ahead of Sennachie (box 6) at $2.80. Next best is the speedy Painted Picture at $6.50 from box five.