Courtesy The West Australian website:

The Goodwood Sprint at Belmont Park will become a weight-for-age event, boosting the prospects of champion Northerly starting first-up in Perth before tackling the Melbourne spring carnival.

The $9.3 million stake earner, a winner of 19 Victorian and WA races for trainer Fred Kersley, will be allotted 58kg if nominated for the 1300m Goodwood on August 16.

WA Turf Club racing manager Greg Carpenter said yesterday the Goodwood, which Northerly has contested twice, would change from being a handicap.

Northerly had 61kg when he won the race first-up in 2001 and finished a close fifth in it last year, carrying 60kg. A 1300m race in mid-August has been an ideal launching pad for his Cox Plate campaigns.

"Not only will Northerly be suited by a weight-for-age race on August 16," Carpenter said, "it will also fit well into programs for top local sprinters aimed at the Hannans Handicap four weeks later."

Kersley said Northerly, who resumed training a fortnight ago, would again target the $3 million Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley in October. He has won the weight-for-age championship twice and is poised to match the great Kingston Town's Cox hat-trick scored 20 years ago.

Northerly is at his devastating best in Melbourne spring carnivals. He won the Feehan, Underwood and Yalumba stakes leading up to his 2001 Cox victory.

Last year, he scored Craiglee, Underwood and Turnbull stakes wins, then triumphed in the Caulfield Cup a week before his second straight Cox success.

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