It was a day of firsts during the Alice Springs Turf Club’s six-event meeting at Pioneer Park on Saturday.
Apprentice jockey Lek Maloney, the son of club chairman Andrew Maloney, rode his first winner after guiding the Russell Bell-trained Arrogant Miss ($2.70 fav) to victory at 0-64 level over 1400m.
For the 19-year-old hoop, it was just his sixth career ride after making his debut in the Red Centre on October 8.
That day he had two rides and managed to finish a narrow second aboard Arrogant Miss, a six-year-old mare, behind Greg Connor’s Intercontinental after flashing home late over 1200m (0-64).
Facing the same grade on the weekend, Arrogant Miss lumped 54.5kg – just like she did three weeks ago – due to Maloney’s 4kg claim to make it two wins from as many starts over 1400m at Pioneer Park.
The first win over 1400m was in November 2019 when she prevailed by a nose against Class 2 company, but on Saturday it was one-way traffic as Arrogant Miss sealed victory by three lengths.
Settling behind the leaders Sweet As Scandi (Ianish Luximon) and Winter Harbour (Stan Tsaikos) in third place, Arrogant Miss made her move at the 600m while rounding the final bend before kicking clear in the home straight.
The Lisa Whittle-trained $7.50 hope The Chaplain (Paul Denton) rattled home to finish second with stablemate Winter Harbour ($5) hanging on for third.
On October 16, which was the teenager’s second race meeting, he managed to finish third on Manhattan Man in his one and ride for master Greg Connor.
Maloney had to complete endless trials in Alice Springs, South Australia and Western Australia, as well as endure relentless trackwork, to prepare for a career in the saddle and he is clearly on the right track after finishing among the placegetters on three occasions in just six starts.
In his other two engagements on Saturday, Maloney finished seventh aboard Tolkien for Connor and eighth aboard Love To Love for Whittle before saluting on Arrogant Miss in the final race.
Arrogant Miss, who had four starts in Broome and Kununurra in WA from July-September, returned home where she finished third over 1000m (0-70) in late September.
The daughter of Puissance De Lune was making her 23rd appearance at Pioneer Park in her 29th career start and the win on the weekend was her first since Anzac Day in 2020.
For Bell, a long-time trainer in Central Australia, he finally tasted success in the 2022/23 Alice Springs and Provincial premiership and he also managed to end the day with a winning double when $9.50 chance Delago Lad (Phillip Crich) saluted over 1000m (BM54).
It was Delago Lad’s first start in Alice Springs and it was his first win since saluting in a 900m maiden at Murray Bridge as a four-year-old in October last year.
The five-year-old gelding sat outside fellow leaders Archie’s A Star (Kristo Sardelic), the $3 favourite, and Acres Midnight (Paul Denton) early and certainly proved his fitness by kicking clear in the home straight to win by three and a half lengths from Connor’s fast-finishing $4 chance Captain Bridges (Jessie Philpot) and Leah Walling-Denton’s Acres Midnight ($31).
Crich, the former Darwin jockey who is now based in Murray Bridge, has spent the last few months in the NT – he even rode at Kununurra – and not only did he win his first race in Alice Springs for the season, but he also ended the day with a winning double.
That was aboard the Kerry Petrick’s four-year-old gelding Kikuyu ($4.80), who dispensed with the blinkers, before winding up from the back of the field in the final 250m to win his first race at the eighth attempt by taking out the 1100m maiden.
For home-town girl Petrick, who has trained a litany of winners in Alice Springs and Darwin over the years, it was her first win at Pioneer Park for the season.
Kikuyu caught the unlucky Vega Prince (Paul Denton), the $3.40 favourite from the Whittle camp, right on the line with Will Savage’s $12 chance Bon Bandeau (Ianish Luximon), who settled up front, coming third.
Trainer Ursula Dobbe got her first win of the 2022/23 campaign when Truckload Of Hoffa (Casey Hunter) ended a seven month drought by getting the cash in the opening race over 1200m (0-58).
The eight-year-old gelding, who was a last start third, sat outside fellow leader Lisa (Ianish Luximon), Kevin Lamprecht’s $7 runner, after a host of horses battled for the lead in a frantic start.
Turning for home, Truckload Of Hoffa ($6) found an extra gear before racing clear to win by three lengths from Whittle’s fast-finishing $6.50 hope Harbour Express (Paul Denton), who pipped Lisa for second place.
In yet another first, Murray Bridge trainer Garret Lynch and fellow South Australian apprentice Kristo Sardelic combined to win their first race in the Red Centre when six-year-old gelding Archery Butts ($2.90 fav) settled in front when they jumped before winning his first race in the NT over 1200m (0-70).
Lynch took six horses to Alice Springs with Archery Butts, who beat Leanne Gillett’s $4.40 hope Bench Press (Stan Tsaikos) and Whittle’s rejuvenated $5 chance Cyclonite (Sonja Wiseman), the only stable representative to run a place all day.
The Connor-trained Bar Gem is a handy horse, but jumping from the barriers isn’t his strong suit and in recent weeks it has hindered his prospects.
The seven-year-old gelding, with Dan Morgan in the saddle, got it right on Saturday and from the inside gate settled third behind Whittle’s Liberty Blue (Sonja Wiseman), who was aiming for his sixth straight win, and Jess Gleeson’s Man In Motion (Casey Hunter) at open level over 1100m.
Bar Gem ($7.50) made his move with 600m to go and in the home straight he battled it out with Liberty Blue ($2.10 fav) before prevailing by a neck to taste victory for the first time since August 20.
Leah Walling-Denton’s in-form 10-year-old mare Roughly (Paul Denton), who started at $8, perhaps gave the leaders too much start before winding up in the home straight to finish third.
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