Debit primed for Te Rapa return
Richard Edmunds - Raceform • September 13th, 2025 9:00 AM • 3 min read
Te Aroha trainer Peter Lock has laid plenty of groundwork with Debit ahead of the promising mare’s return to racing in the Power Farming – We Keep You Growing 1200 at Te Rapa on Sunday.
Debit is the winner of four of her five career starts, the most recent of them a 1340m open handicap at Whanganui in November of last year.
Lock has given the daughter of Darci Brahma four trials this time in, culminating in an impressive win over 1150m at Waipa on August 26.
“We’re really happy with how she’s coming up,” Lock told RaceForm. “She’d had about six months out in the paddock, and being a year older, it’s just taken a couple of extra trials to get her ready.
“We thought we had her pretty close to the mark for that last trial at Waipa, and she came out and won convincingly by three lengths. Her time was two seconds faster than the other seven heats over the same distance that day, and Courtney (Barnes, jockey) said she did it with plenty in hand.
“She pulled up well and has done everything right since then, so I think we’re on target. Courtney will come over and give her a final gallop on the course proper on Wednesday morning, which should top off her preparation nicely.
“Courtney’s going to ride her in Sunday’s first-up run against what looks like quite a strong field. A lot of those horses have the advantage of being hard and fit. But it’s a good place to kick her off, and hopefully she’ll have a nice draw and won’t have to do too much work in this resuming run.”
Lock will wait until after Sunday’s $50,000 race before finalising Debit’s season itinerary.
“We’ll just get through this first run back first, and then we’ll start making a plan around some better races later on in the season,” he said. “Some of those open handicaps around Christmas and New Year might be good targets to work towards.”
Lock’s other runner at Te Rapa on Sunday is Fabulous Gal in the Thank You For Standing With Kidney Kids New Zealand 1600.
“I was very, very happy with her run for third over 1500m at Te Rapa last start, and she’s trained on really well,” Lock said. “George Rooke rides her this weekend and I think she’ll be extremely competitive again.”
