Restricted-class galloper Rakitiki, trained by Moe husband-and-wife combination Tracey and Paul Templeton, has headed to Darwin hoping to cash in on the healthy prizemoney available at the 2017 Darwin Cup carnival.
Rakitiki, owned by the Templetons, is a winner of three races from 22 starts. Recently placed on the synthetic surface at Geelong (May 12), the six-year-old has joined Kyneton trainer Neil Dyer’s team for the Darwin carnival. 
Rakitiki is a half-brother to one of the present stars of Northern Territory racing, Delta D’or, who is unbeaten (five starts and $90,000 stakes) since joining ex-Victorian trainer Patrick Johnston. Delta D’or was a maiden winner at Pakenham when trained by Amy Johnston (Patrick’s sister).
Paul Templeton explained: “(Rakitiki) did attract some attention from Darwin, with a couple of offers to buy off the back of Delta D’or’s success. 
“We decided to send him up with Neil Dyer. If he’s racing well and paying his way, we hope to head up for a week around Darwin Cup time to watch him go around.”
A recent addition to the stable of Michael Templeton (Paul’s brother), Sandhill Ruler, will also make the trip as part of the Dyer team. 
Sandhill Ruler, a maiden winner at Kangaroo Island, was previously trained by Jordan Frew.
Dyer has had great success campaigning horses in Darwin over the winter months.
This year, for his 10th successive Darwin carnival, he has a team of 18 making the trip north. 
His successes in the territory include two Darwin Cups with Hawks Bay, who also finished second twice and won the NT Guineas and Derby.
The horses left Kyneton on Monday for the marathon 3700-kilometre journey, with overnight stops planned for Port Augusta, Alice Springs and Daily Waters. They were due to arrive at Darwin’s Fannie Bay racecourse mid-afternoon on Thursday.
Dyer is refreshed and hungry for success after recently completing a three-month suspension for breaching race-day treatment rules. Racing Victoria stewards charged Dyer with injecting Short Changed with the diuretic Diurex on the day he was due to race at Kyneton on December 8. Dyer pleaded guilty.
Veteran jockey Roger Booth will be travelling north for the warmer weather to take a role as stable rider for the Dyer camp.
Douch’s dog delight
Sale trainer Des Douch’s handy mare Poppy Talk finished unplaced first up last week on her home track, but the dual-code trainer has been enjoying plenty of success of late with the greyhound arm of his training operation.
Douch has bred and trained greyhounds for several years. And the May 2015 union of Banjo Boy and Easy Baby is certainly paying dividends for Douch and his partners in the Unique Lolly Syndicate, including promising apprentice jockey Brandon Stockdale and long-time greyhound enthusiast Darren Toogood.
Easy Baby had a litter of eight pups (six dogs and two bitches), with seven already successful on the track. Douch trains six of the litter, with Seona Thompson (wife of currently banned trainer Jason) putting the polish on the litter star, Big Flood.
The litter includes Cairo Calling (four wins, $8690), Brueghlino (four wins, $23,340), Jake of Carson (two wins, $2600), Mars Rising (two wins, $3170), Petadale (five wins, $8580), Tidelina (three wins, $5655) and Big Flood (11 wins, $97, 729).
Some of the names may sound familiar, with Allan Douch (Des’s brother) having trained horses with similar or the same names in his long career as a respected trainer in the Gippsland area. Allan has not been enjoying the best of health in recent times, but is certainly get a buzz and kick along with the success of Des and his canine friends.