With the Alice Springs Cup Carnival starting on March 17, local trainer Barry Cooke is eyeing the St Patrick’s Day Cup (1600m) with former Queensland mare Nasha.
The five-year-old, whom Cooke purchased from Rockhampton trainer Clinton Taylor, made her Red Centre debut two weeks ago when third behind Zoustorm over 1400m at 0-70 level.
Nasha will line up against Benchmark 76 opposition over 1400m on Saturday, and should she impress, it will be on to the St Patrick’s Day Cup — the $35,000 feature on Day 1 of the carnival.
“I’m hoping to finish in the top three and then I’ll assess from there,” Cooke said.
“The St Paddy’s Cup is what I’m aiming for, so hopefully she will run well on Saturday and improve her rating.
“She’s got to show me something before I’ll consider the St Paddy’s Cup.
“There are other mile races for her over carnival, we’ll map a schedule after Saturday.”
It’s never easy for a horse to deal with the dirt surface first-up, as well as running in the opposite direction and dealing with the kickback, but Nasha handled it with aplomb.
Cooke could not fault her, and as was the case on February 17, she will carry 55kg with Casey Hunter on board.
“She covered a lot of ground first-up and got caught wide, but she hit the line hard,” he said.
“If she got an inside run, she would have been right there with Zoustorm.
“Nasha handled the conditions, no worries at all.
“She’s just a little professional, but Saturday is a big test.”
Before Nasha arrived in Alice Springs, Cooke had been looking for a mare for the $35,000 Queen Of The Desert (1200m) on Cup Day on April 7.
However, he couldn’t find one.
“Nasha was probably the pick online at the time — she gets that bit more ground and has won over the mile,” Cooke said.
“She’s a handy mare — lightly raced and consistent.”
Nasha had three starts for Cranbourne-based trainers Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr and won a 1400m Wangaratta maiden in late 2021 before joining Robert Heathcote’s Eagle Farm stable.
She didn’t run a place in five starts in Brisbane before debuting for Taylor last June.
In 11 starts, the mare had two wins and was placed on five occasions, while she finished in the top four twice.
Naturally, Cooke did his homework, and it was a narrow fourth over 1500m at Rockhampton last November that sealed the mare’s ticket to Alice Springs.
“I actually watched that particular race live on TV,” he said.
“I was in Adelaide visiting my Dad in hospital when I bought the horse the next day on the online auction.
“I only paid $4500 for her, I thought she would go for a lot more.”
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