Such is the form his vast Darby Racing stable of horses are in that Scott Darby suspects Saturday’s $300,000 Pakenham Cup could see a reversal in fortunes of his syndicate’s runner Goldman (NZ) (Verdi).
A one-time early Melbourne Cup favourite in 2023 after beating Soulcombe in the Roy Higgins Quality (2500m) at Flemington, Goldman has since gone on a puzzling nine-run losing streak.
“It’s been a while between drinks, but Gai (Waterhouse) tells me he’s going along well,” Darby said on Tuesday. “Getting back that way (anti-clockwise) and down in the grades a bit, he’ll get his chance and we’d love to see him break through.”
Goldman easily won his first three Australian starts after coming from New Zealand, but his form started to fall away for seemingly no reason 18 months ago.
“We can’t really put a finger on it,” Darby said. “He had that poor spring and then in the autumn he wasn’t too bad. But he’s just struggling to find that top-end form.
“Whether he just levelled out, as he went through the grades very quickly.
“He’s the sort of horse I think that if we can get him back to form, he might hold it, so Saturday is a pretty important race for him.”
Darby Racing has enjoyed a golden run in recent weeks, with their star sprinter Overpass again winning the Group 1 Winterbottom Stakes in Perth, before last week their $160,000 September purchase Robusto snared the $2 million Ingham at Randwick, hours after the team’s unbeaten juvenile Within The Law ran away with the $500,000 Inglis Nursery.
Darby said it is hoped Robusto could earn a wildcard into the Magic Millions Cup next month on the Gold Coast, where he could be joined by a most promising stablemate.
He said Raikkonen, a three-year-old who has won two of his three starts for trainer Bjorn Baker, is also being aimed at a Magic Millions Cup spot, where Darby said he could unveil himself as a future star.
“He’s showing all the signs he’s a Group 1 horse in the making so we’re very excited about him,” he said.