Kempsey local believes he will lift his first Kempsey Cup

Kempsey local horse race trainer Barry Ratcliffe has had a lot of success in the horse racing industry but there is still an achievement he hasn’t fulfilled and he believes that will change on Friday.

Ratcliffe has entered a horse into the Kempsey Cup on over a dozen occasions but has never claimed the victory and he is hoping to change his luck on one of his favourite horses Malleable.

“This is my year, I am very confident in Malleable,” Ratcliffe said.

Ratcliffe has been training Malleable for over three years and the horse has had 46 starts for 5 wins, 5 seconds and 8 thirds.

The seven-year-old horse has drawn the favourable barrier 6 and Ratcliffe has a clear plan of attack to lift his first cup.

“We will look to jump to the front from the start and lead the pack. He is faster when he is in that position and most of his wins are when he has led the whole way.”

“The track should be a soft-5 which will play into our strategy too, he runs really well on that type of track.”

Malleable has been racing at longer distances in Sydney and Ratcliffe believes it will help the horse sprint the 1,450m distance. 

Ratcliffe has resided in Kempsey for 33 years and he has been training horses in the local area for even longer. 

“It has always been a goal of mine to win the big race at my local track and I have never been more confident.”

Jockey Serg Lisnyy will be on the back of Malleable for the sixth time and Ratcliffe believes the Ukranian is a great jockey and he puts him on all of his winners.

It will be a tough field of 10 opposition horses including the defending champion Single Spirit that drew barrier 2 while Kempsey local horse trainer Julie Lynch has Brasileiro Macho and Nothing Like Luca in the field. 

Ratcliffe will have two other horses running on the day with Poome Petiet in the Steve Kier memorial and Like My Brother will race in the Mavin Truck Centre Benchmark.

The Kempsey Cup is race seven and it is expected to jump at 4.55pm.