Former Darwin Cup-winning jockey Nathan Stanley will be honoured at Fannie Bay on Friday.
The 47-year-old, who passed away last week, won the Northern Territory’s biggest race in 2008 when he guided the Dick Leech-trained Club Liquid to victory by 13 lengths in a then-record time of 2:01.22 for the 2000m.
The Remembering Nathan ‘Bantam’ Stanley 0-70 Handicap (1100m) is the feature on the Darwin Turf Club’s six-race program on Friday.
During a 23-year career in the saddle from 1992–2015, Stanley rode winners in every state and territory.
He also enjoyed success overseas with 17 wins in Korea and had a short stint in Malaysia.
Stanley, who had 432 wins from 5294 career starts, first arrived in the NT in 2006 when he accepted an invitation from good friend Shane Green, the Alice Springs Turf Club’s racecaller at the time, to ride in the Red Centre.
Besides the Darwin Cup, Stanley’s other major wins in the NT came aboard Not Abandoned in the 2006 Buntine Handicap (1900m) and Sunshine Resource in the 2008 ROANT Gold Cup (1300m) in Darwin.
During the 2008 Alice Springs Cup Carnival, Stanley partnered the mighty NT galloper Periduki to victory at weight-for-age level over 1100m at Pioneer Park.
He had 23 wins in the Top End at Darwin, Adelaide River and Pine Creek, as well as 16 wins in Alice Springs, racking up 409 rides in the NT at various intervals from 2006–2011.
Born in Queanbeyan in NSW, Stanley had his first ride at Gundagai in November 1992 before booting home his first winner eight days later at Queanbeyan.
His last winner was at Derby in WA in June 2015 before having his last ride at Broome in August 2015.
“The passing of Nathan Stanley is yet another terrible loss for the Australian racing fraternity,” Thoroughbred Racing Northern Territory chief executive Andrew O’Toole said.
“He leaves a wonderful legacy in the Territory as no one will ever forget his Darwin Cup win on Club Liquid.
“His passing has been met with great sadness here in the NT, and anyone and everyone connected with racing certainly extends their condolences to Nathan’s family and friends.
“It’s only fitting the Darwin Turf Club pays tribute to Nathan on Friday.”
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