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Find your Sport Nation frequencySENTrack: Andrew O’Toole’s Saturday best bets at Darwin (09/05)
Andrew O’Toole • May 10th, 2025 12:30 pm
The first of two meetings in the month of May, a fortnight apart, takes place at Fannie Bay in Darwin today, and a handy little card of five races is the order of the day. Even though some 42 horses have accepted, with nine riders declared for the meeting, it is likely that 38 horses will compete on what promises to be an interesting afternoon as the build-up to the Darwin Cup Carnival gets underway.
The highest-rated race of the day will be the third, the $23,400 Silks Sunday Carvery Handicap over 1100m for the Benchmark 76 sprinters. A competitive field of half a dozen will do battle here, with leading trainer Gary Clarke saddling up four of the six runners. All have claims of success too, but I have settled on Rising Sphere as the leading contender.
The quality sprinter, who won the Montgomerie Lightning on Darwin Cup Day last year and all told has 11 wins to his credit (seven of them in Darwin), resumed from a break with a good second to stablemate Siakam over this trip on 28 March, and has been given plenty of time to get over that run. Although drawn a little awkwardly in barrier five in the six-horse field, he does not have to lead and can just as effectively take a sit. He usually comes to hand very quickly following a spell, and with Adam Nicholls, who has had just the one previous ride aboard the 7yo son of Exosphere, taking the mount today, he should be highly competitive.
Hardest to beat, without a doubt, is the topweight Bon’s Pride. The 5yo son of Bon Aurum, trained by Jason Manning, has been a model of consistency since purchased by his trainer from the Darwin Tried Horse Sale in 2023, having started on 14 occasions since for no less than six wins, six seconds, a fourth and a sixth placing. He was meant to run here a fortnight ago, however, the race he was earmarked for failed to gain sufficient entries and was abandoned. The only question mark on his chances is the fact he has yet to win at 1100m – he has had three seconds from three attempts – and he has never won first-up from four attempts. Bon’s Pride has not started since 14 December but such is his record, he hardly ever goes a bad race and will surely give a good account of himself.
Mr Have A Chat, from the stable of Chris Nash, is another most consistent galloper who from an inside gate of two, should be thereabouts in the finish. He won two starts back over this trip on 15 March, and was then beaten two lengths into third behind Siakam on 28 March. He has the services of Hannah Le Blanc, who has been successful on the son of I’m All The Talk previously, and another bold showing can be expected.
Galaxy General, another of the Clarke-trained runners, is an interesting newcomer to the Top End, having done all his previous racing in Queensland. He is a six-time winner in that state, and each of his wins have come on the synthetic surface at either the Sunshine or Gold Coast when trained by Lee Freedman and for a short time by Lindsay Gough. He comes off a last-start win on 5 April and even though he has not had a trial on the Fannie Bay track, you can rest assured that his master trainer will have him primed for a big effort first-up. And the fact that No 1 stable rider Jarrod Todd has the mount could be a solid lead to his chances.
The third of the Clarke Racing contenders is Siakam, a ten-race winner who seems to have been in Darwin for ages, although only a 7yo. He won three starts ago in late March and has since finished fifth behind Canton Kid on 12 April and second to Bon’s Your Back over 1300m on 19 April. Last time he dropped back from 1300m to 1100m he won so he cannot be left out of calculations, especially with Paul Shiers to take the mount.
Flying Annie completes the line-up, and her last-start effort when tailing the field home in the Queen of the Desert for the fillies and mares in Alice Springs on 6 April was right out of character. She is much better than that and the five-race winner, who last won four starts back in mid-September, could show up without causing any surprise.
The bet365 Handicap, for the 0-70 sprinters over 1200m, is another interesting affair, with the main chances Bon’s Your Back, American Jazz and Straya Pride, although Beyond Ready is a promising 4yo who has a good record on this course and raced well here at the Carnival in 2024.
The weather in the Top End this week has been very pleasant, with cooler mornings and warm days. The humidity has certainly fallen away and the dry season is upon us. The official forecast for today reads: Mostly sunny. Light winds becoming southeasterly 15 to 20 km/h during the morning then becoming light during the afternoon. The temperature is forecast to reach 34 degrees during the day, and 24 overnight, while there is only a 5% chance of any rainfall.
The first race on the four-race card gets underway at 3.07pm (NT time), which is 3.37pm on the eastern seaboard, while the last is timed to go at 5.25pm (NT time), or 5.55pm in New South Wales and Victoria.
BEST BETS
R2 # 3 BON’S YOUR BACKWas impressive when scoring over 1300m in BM76 company here on 19 April, beating Siakam by over four lengths. That followed two good third placings at his first two starts in the Top End. The son of Bon Aurum, a five-race winner from 23 starts, has taken to the sand and oil-based surface in Darwin with aplomb and actually drops in grade for this assignment. Paul Shiers goes aboard for Chris Pollard and he should take a power of beating.
R3 # 2 RISING SPHEREQuality sprinter who resumed from a decent spell with a fine run for second behind stablemate Siakam here three weeks ago. Has a fine record over this trip of 1100m, having won five times and been five times placed from 17 attempts. Drawn out a little but in this smallish field that should not matter. Twice a winner second-up and makes plenty of appeal here.
R5 # 3 SHECANMIXITHas had a freshen-up since last racing on 15 March. Finished fifth on that occasion in a 0-70 behind Mr Have A Chat, and had won his previous two starts over 1000m in February. Probably better suited over the short course but that said, has won and been placed second three times over this distance of 1100m. Raymond Vigar, who has had two rides for two wins on the 6yo, will be aboard again and she should be very hard to head off.
SELECTIONS
FANNIE BAY RACECOURSE (DARWIN) – GOODRACE 1 – 2, 5, 6, 3RACE 2 – 3, 5, 4, 1RACE 3 – 2, 1, 4, 5RACE 4 – 3, 4, 2, 8RACE 5 – 3, 5, 1, 6
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