On the eve of the $75,000 Darwin Guineas (1600m) where his three-year-old gelding Flying Start is the favourite, trainer Greg Connor spent the day relaxing at the Alice Springs Show.
The easy-going Connor, who has been training for years at the Pioneer Park racecourse in Central Australia, will be watching Saturday’s race from the Red Centre.
“There’s a few owners here, so no doubt we’ll probably go somewhere and watch it,” Connor said on Friday.
“We can either be happy or disappointed together.”
Flying Start, a $2.80 favourite with Palmerbet on Friday, is arguably the horse to beat in the feature race at Fannie Bay on Day 1 of the 2022 Great Northern Darwin Cup Carnival.
The Flying Artie gelding from Victoria made his debut in June last year as a two-year-old where he finished seventh in a 1204m maiden at Donald.
He then finished third in a 1400m maiden on the synthetic surface at Pakenham a month later and all seemed promising, but he then finished unplaced in his next four starts for Cranbourne trainer Lloyd Kennewell.
His last race in Victoria was in March before arriving at the Connor stable in Alice Springs.
And like magic, Flying Start won a month later when he saluted in a 1200m maiden on the Pioneer Park dirt by a lazy eight lengths.
Connor is an experienced trainer and he no doubt has plenty of tricks up sleeve, and although he would have hoped that Flying Start would be competitive there’s no way he would have anticipated such a margin of victory.
“When I bought the horse, the jockey that used to ride him – Joe Bowditch – said, ‘this horse can really do some serious work, but he’s just never turned it around on the grass’,” Connor said.
“So fortunately when we got him to Alice the first bit of work we could sort of figure that Joe was pretty well spot on.
“His first up start in Alice, he ran 1.09.10 – that was a 1200 – and that’s a pretty serious time for a horse that did quite a lot wrong.
“He just relaxes so easy, that’s his thing – a bit different to his track work, he gets very keen in his track work.
“In his races, he’ll go as fast as you want him too really.”
Although the highly-fancied and unbeaten Dakota Lee was missing, Flying Start won his next race by eight lengths as well when he annihilated the opposition in the $50,000 NT Guineas (1600m) on April 16.
He then backed up during the Alice Springs Cup Carnival to overcome the impressive Bench Press in a 1600m race for the three and four-year-olds at 0-68 level.
Connor then sent the horse north with the Darwin Guineas his main target.
On June 18, Flying Start (59kg) made his Fannie Bay debut against fellow three-year-olds over 1300m (0-66) and produced an incredible burst of speed from the rear of the field in the home straight to finish a whisker behind the Gary Clarke-trained Wilsons Prom (55kg).
It was a sensational Guineas trial.
Apart from Starlite Valley (56kg), the only filly in the Guineas, the other 11 geldings in the race will be lumping 58kg.
And in further good news for the Connor stable – that’s if you believe in omens – is that Jessie Philpot, who was the pilot when the Nicole Irwin-trained Highly Decorated dominated the 2021 Darwin Cup Carnival, is Flying Start’s jockey.
“If we happen to win the Guineas it would be great, it would arguably be my biggest win in Darwin,” Connor said.
The likes of Gary Clarke pair Wilsons Prom (Jarrod Todd) and Wolfburn (Adam Nicholls), Jason Manning’s Max Fire (Vanessa Arnott), Peter Stennett’s Pacadow (Wayne Davis), Amy and Ash Yargi’s Zoomurudi (Jason Maskiell), and Billy Healey’s Rising Fire (Paul Shiers) are certainly in the mix.
Zoomurudi and Rising Fire have yet to race in Darwin.
“They’re all a threat, I think – there’s a few unknowns in there,” Connor said.
“Obviously, Clarkie’s horse Wilsons Prom – you can’t under-estimate the locals.
“That horse has proven so far that he is a pretty tough sort of horse.
“He seems like a bit of a tradesman style of horse the way he knuckles down and keeps getting to the line.”
Former Alice Springs-based jockey Dan Morgan, who is Connor’s foreman in Darwin, reported on Friday morning that Flying Start seemed happy.
“He said the horse is well, been eating well, and pulled up super since his last run,” Connor said.
“And he looks fantastic, Dan was saying.
“Obviously, just going to need a bit of luck in the Guineas, that’s all.”
Connor confirmed that not much will change with Flying Start’s racing pattern in the Guineas – he will more or less settle at the back before hopefully doing his best work at the end of the contest.
“We’re going to stick with the same tactics, we won’t be changing too much at all to be honest,” he said.
“He seems quite comfortable doing what he’s doing there.
“He will probably be out the back somewhere trying to look for openings and get home.
“All his runs in Alice were always well off the pace – he can run home some pretty good sectionals.
“He’s racing well – they’re hard to get those sort of horses that can get home over the top of other horses, especially on the dirt.
“Generally, it’s always pretty well, you know, leader type tracks.”
The Ladbrokes Triple Crown is one of the main attractions during the Darwin Cup Carnival with $100,000 on offer for connections should their horse win the Darwin Guineas, $135,000 Ladbrokes NT Derby (2050m) and $200,000 Great Northern Darwin Cup (2050m).
Only two horses have achieved the feat – Brinney (1989) and Ventilago (1996) – with the $100,000 bonus introduced in 1995.
Connor, who does plan to make the trip to Darwin for the month long Cup Carnival, has yet to devise a future plan for Flying Start post the Guineas for as long as he remains in the Top End.
“If he runs a good race tomorrow, then I will perhaps consider the Derby,” he said.
“If the Guineas is as far as he goes I think he’ll be more than a handy sprinter any way.”
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