After celebrating 50 wins for the 2022/23 season in the Red Centre last weekend, Darwin jockey Sonja Wiseman made it a winning treble on Saturday on Day 1 of the Alice Springs Cup Carnival.
All three wins on the nine-event program at Pioneer Park were achieved on the bounce with Wiseman, 31, extending her lead over Jarrod Todd in the Alice Springs and Provincial jockey’s premiership.
She now sits on 26 wins from fellow Top End hoop Todd (17), who rode a winner on Saturday, while Wiseman (27) also leads three-time winner Todd (20) in the Top End and Country premiership.
Wiseman’s success started when the Terry Huish-trained Frilly Design ($20) caused a boilover in the $22,000 Discovery Parks 0-62 Handicap (1000m) when she blitzed her rivals by four lengths.
It was the seven-year-old mare’s sixth win from 25 starts and it was her first win since saluting over 1000m (0-58) at Pioneer Park last June.
Debuting in Darwin in July 2019, the daughter of Master Of Design had 14 starts for three wins for leading Top End trainer Gary Clarke before finding a new home in Alice Springs with Huish, a former Red Centre jockey, who also worked for the Alice Springs Turf Club for a number of years.
After a blistering start, it was Leech’s Superior Power (Todd), Russell Bell’s Garrucha (Dan Morgan) and Will Savage’s Paketta (Ianish Luximon) who set the early pace, with Frilly Design – who jumped from the inside gate – settling comfortably along the rails in fourth place.
Down the side with 600m to go Frilly Design made her move and after dispensing with the tiring Paketta set sail after Superior Power and Garrucha once turning for home and with 350m to go.
The mare had momentum and finished with a full head of steam with Real Valentia (Jade Hampson), Kym Healy’s $2 favourite, and Rock Of Kryptonite (Jessie Philpot), Ray Viney’s $21 outsider, working home well from the back for second and third, respectively.
John Peacock’s Super Famous (Hunter), a star performer in the Alice and Darwin last year, was well adrift in last place for the first 400m before producing an eye-catching fourth.
8/4/23 Alice Springs Race 4 Replay – Frilly Design
Strathalbyn trainer Healy had three minor placings earlier in the day before finally celebrating when $8 chance Taipian Tommy (Wiseman) left it late to seal a narrow win in the $22,000 Bark N’ Bath Alice Springs 0-66 Handicap (1100m).
Healy, who has supported the Alice Springs and Darwin Cup Carnivals for many years, is also a former Alice Spring and Darwin Cup winning trainer, and for Taipan Tommy to win his first race for Healy at his first start in the Red Centre was a tremendous training effort.
Having also taken horses to other remote dirt and sand tracks in the NT, South Australia and NSW over the years, you must always respect Healy when he starts a horse at Pioneer Park.
Formerly trained by fellow SA pair Nicole Irwin and Dennis O’Leary, Taipan Tommy made it four wins from 27 starts with Dark Valley’s seven-year-old gelding getting the cash for the first time since winning over 1215m (BM56) at Kangaroo Island in January 2022.
The Darwin-trained Noble War (Jade Hampson) from the Tayarn Halter stable, who was also making her Red Centre debut, set the early pace after jumping from the outside gate (six) and seemingly had control of the race.
Lisa Whittle’s Harpuna (Paul Denton) wasn’t that far away in second place, but as the pressure mounted passing the 400m mark third-placed Taipan Tommy and fourth-placed Kikuyu (Phillip Crich), from the Kerry Petrick paddock, clicked into gear.
Turning for home, Noble War ($5.50) had what seemed to be a winning lead, but Taipan Tommy and Kikuyu ($9) were in full flight and in the shadows of the post Halter’s mare was swamped with Healy’s charger pipping Petrick’s runner by 0.03 lengths.
Dick Leech’s Envenomate (Todd) showed fight in the closing 200m to finish fourth, while Russell Bell’s $2.50 betting site favourite Delago Lad (Maloney) failed to fire a shot to finish fifth with Harpuna sixth.
8/4/23 Alice Springs Race 5 Replay – Taipan Tommy
The Wiseman trifecta became a reality when she booted $1.45 favourite Poupee home for Top End trainer Tom Logan, who is also her partner, in the $26,300 Larapinta Supermarket Open Handicap (1100m).
Boasting exceptional form in Darwin, Poupee is a serious threat should get a start in the $100,000 Pioneer Sprint (1200m) on April 30 and was always going to take some stopping in her Red Centre debut.
The late scratchings of Greg Connor’s Flying Start (Morgan) and Healy’s I’m A Legend (Hampson) certainly made Poupee’s task a lot easier as she jumped to the lead before sealing victory by five lengths in the five-horse field.
For Logan, who sits in equal third place with Tayarn Halter (15) in the Top End and Country trainer’s premiership behind Clarke (28) and Phil Cole (19), it was his first Alice winner and there’s no doubt his five-year-old mare has ability.
With five wins from nine starts in Darwin after debuting at Fannie Bay in March last year, Logan was always going to target the Pioneer Sprint for Poupee after missing a potential start in the Palmerston Sprint (1200m) during last year’s Darwin Cup Carnival when her form dipped.
The former Queensland galloper, the daughter of Better Than Ready, arrived in Central Australia after a last start win over 1300m (BM76) in early March.
Leech’s Stage Front (Todd – $26), second in the 2021 Pioneer Sprint behind Smuggling, ran on nicely for second with Petrick’s Our Luca (Crich – $6), third in the 2022 Pioneer Sprint behind Smuggling, filling the minor placings ahead of Supreme Times and Sedona.
I’m A Legend was scratched on vet’s advice after flipping over behind the barriers, while Alice Springs’ reigning horse of the year Flying Start was withdrawn after breaking through the gates before practically completing a circuit of the track.
8/4/23 Alice Springs Race 6 Replay – Poupee
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