Paul Perry has made a good fist of plundering Melbourne's major sprint races but will break new ground at Flemington on Saturday when he starts his first runner in a Victoria Derby.The Newcastle trainer sends out Southern Skye in the 2500-metre blue riband after the gelding staked his claims for a berth with a strong victory in the Geelong Classic.Perry has enjoyed springtime success in Melbourne with the likes of 1997 Salinger Stakes winner Notoire, 2002 Emirates winner Choisir and Biscayne Bay
Paul Perry has made a good fist of plundering Melbourne's major sprint races but will break new ground at Flemington on Saturday when he starts his first runner in a Victoria Derby.
The Newcastle trainer sends out Southern Skye in the 2500-metre blue riband after the gelding staked his claims for a berth with a strong victory in the Geelong Classic.
Perry has enjoyed springtime success in Melbourne with the likes of 1997 Salinger Stakes winner Notoire, 2002 Emirates winner Choisir and Biscayne Bay who claimed the International Sprint at Caulfield three years ago.
All three were sprinters and while Perry said he'd had horses capable of contesting a Victoria Derby in the past, they didn't because of commercial reasons.
"He's my first runner in a Victoria Derby," Perry said of Southern Skye.
"I probably had a couple of others who could have run in one but with horses who are going to stud, owners tend not to want to win a Derby.
"This race has been on the cards for a good while with this horse.
"He is a dour stayer who wants a trip."
Every year there is debate over whether the 2500-metre Derby trip is too taxing for immature three-year-olds and calls for it to be reduced to a 2000-metre race.
Perry isn't one of the knockers and figures the race has stood the test of time.
"I don't know. It's been going for a long time hasn't it?" he said of the race first run in 1855.
Southern Skye is at $14 on TAB Sportsbet's Derby markets with Shamoline Warrior favourite at $3 ahead of Rockferry ($4.80) who was third to Perry's charge at Geelong.
Perry believed Southern Skye's effort to win was just as impressive as his Danny O'Brien-trained rival's effort to finish in the placings and was bemused by the price difference.
"I thought his run at Geelong was good, he came from well back and while the other one (Rockferry) had an uninterrupted run around them, ours came through and finished well," Perry said.
Perry has followed a patient path to the Derby with Southern Skye who was campaigning primarily around the NSW provincial circuit before being stepped up to Group company in the Gloaming Stakes (1800m) at Rosehill three starts ago.
He wasn't disgraced when fifth to subsequent Cox Plate winner So You Think then failed to handle the heavy track when unplaced in the Spring Champion Stakes won by Derby rival Monaco Consul.
He bounced back on a firm surface to win at Geelong and while that race has not traditionally been a strong lead-up - Tobin Bronze in 1965 was the last to claim the double - this year's Derby could buck the historical trends.
The AAMI Vase is usually considered one of the best form races for the Derby but neither the first nor second placegetters in that - Hanks and Spacecraft - will run on Saturday.
And while the bulk of Derby winners have run in either the Norman Robinson Stakes or AAMI Vase in the preceding weeks, Monaco Consul will tackle it at his first start since winning the Spring Champion on October 3.
Favourite Shamoline Warrior has taken the traditional route, winning the Norman Robinson, and will be out to go one better than his Mark Kavanagh-trained stablemate Whobegotyou who started favourite in last year's Derby when runner-up to Rebel Raider.