Trainer Brett Pope says the 2025 Great Northern Broome Cup (2200m) is a wide-open contest with many chances, but believes his runner King Mahuta deserves to be among the contenders.
Pope’s confidence in King Mahuta stems from his last-start performance in the Port Hedland Cup (2200m) where he answered a distance query by powering home to finish a close second behind Broome Cup rival, Reginald.
“There’s probably about eight winning chances in the field,” Pope said on Tabradio.
“We’ve drawn sticky, but maybe that’s not a bad thing.
“He got through his last run really good, it was huge, so we know he can run the journey.
“He did a lot of work circling them and actually got off balance coming into the straight.
“The jockey lost her balance when he hit the grass, he hadn’t gone from the dirt to the grass before.
“He really got going again late but Tim Pike’s horse (Reginald) kept going and we couldn’t catch it.”
King Mahuta heads into the Broome Cup in top form, having notched back-to-back wins at Carnarvon before his strong chasing effort in the Port Hedland Cup.
In a full field of 14 runners, King Mahuta has barrier 13-a testing gate.
The five-year-old gelding will be ridden for the first time by former UK jockey, Elisha Whittington.
It’s a long way from her home in England and a win in the Broome Cup would mark her biggest success since establishing her base in Perth.
King Mahuta has recorded four wins from 14 starts, all over 1600m.
His recent second placing in the Port Hedland Cup was his first attempt beyond the mile.
Joining King Mahuta at Broome on Saturday are stable mates Sansanee, Big Cities and Shasfa.
Shasfa ran second to Fire The Guard on Tuesday, but according to Pope will be better served stepping up from 1000m to 1200m in the Nutrien AG Solutions Handicap.
“It was a good run the other day, they just sort of ran her off her legs, but she was winding up late,” Pope said.
Big Cities, a big winner at Broome on Tuesday, is looking to go back-to-back in the Alpha Security Handicap (1615).
Sansanee, placed at Carnarvon and Port Hedland, is out to end maiden status at start 18 in the opening race of the meeting.
Julio Santarelli