The long trip from the Red Centre to the Top End has already paid dividends for Alice Springs trainer Jess Gleeson.
Starting horses at Fannie Bay on Saturday for the first time, Gleeson had two wins and a second on Day 4 of the 2022 Darwin Cup Carnival.
Dataset (Casey Hunter), a six-year-old gelding starting at $5.50 with online bookmakers, basically led from start to finish to win the $25,000 Mittys 0-66 Handicap (1600m) – the opening event on the program.
Devil’s Temptation (Hunter), a five-year-old gelding starting at $7.50, also jumped straight to the front and was never headed in the $34,000 Silks Darwin WFA (1200m) to seal his spot in the $135,000 Palmerston Sprint (1200m) on July 30.
Glock (Sonja Wiseman), a five-year-old gelding starting at $7.50, was far from disgraced when he finished second behind Gary Clarke’s $2.25 favourite Global Wonder (Adam Nicholls) by a length in the $25,000 Sign City 0-70 Handicap (1100m).
Gleeson had one other runner in action with four-year-old gelding Handball (Wayne Davis), an $18 outsider, finishing seventh behind Dataset.
It was an outstanding training feat by Gleeson, while the stable’s other representative, Above Everage – a winless three-year-old gelding after four starts – has yet to stretch his legs.
Devil’s Temptation and Glock were backing up from a two-week break, while Dataset and Handball hadn’t raced since June 19.
Gleeson is also the partner of Alice Springs racecaller Dylan Bairstow, the son of former Geelong AFL captain Mark Bairstow.
“Obviously, I have not been here before,” Gleeson said from Darwin on Tuesday.
“I wanted to come last year, but things just didn’t work out.
“This year, I spoke to Dylan about it and we made up our mind we were coming, so it was just timing really.
“I was meant to come earlier, things didn’t work out.
“I had a really bad day at the races at Alice one day – I had nine entered – and everything went pear-shaped.
“I kind of needed to see them run to know who was going to go to Darwin.
“I was always going to bring Devil’s Temptation.
“With Glock, you haven’t seen the proper horse at Alice Springs – I think he’s a handy little horse and he’s pretty speedy.
“And Dataset, he’s just tough, real tough, on-speed type of horse which is kind of what seems to suit Darwin.
“Myself and Dylan sat down and spoke about it – and those are probably the main three.
“We brought Above Everage – there were no short maidens at Alice.
“They were all 1200m plus – he probably needs a little bit less and he’s only up here for the experience.
“The other one, Handball – we brought him along because he has won a 2000m race on the grass back in Victoria and again we don’t have any of them in Alice.
“Hopefully, I’d like to see if he could run in the 2050m consolation race for the stayers on (Darwin) Cup Day.
“The race didn’t run to plan for him in that mile on Saturday with Dataset because they walked and then they sprinted home.”
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Gleeson is from Ireland and hails from Kilcullen in County Kildare in the country’s eastern region, which is near The Curragh – an area well known for Irish horse breeding and training.
Arriving in Australia in 2012, she resided in Western Australia and spent a year travelling the country.
She acquired her trainer’s licence in 2019 when she was living in Perth before moving to Central Australia when Bairstow was appointed as the Alice Springs Turf Club’s racecaller at Pioneer Park.
Hence, Gleeson transferred her trainer’s licence once she relocated to the Northern Territory.
A number of her runners appear in the colours of emerald green, orange and white, which form the Irish flag.
There were other circumstances as to why Gleeson settled on her team for the Top End.
“I always thought Dataset would probably be a nice type for Darwin – he can hold his own out in front,” she said.
“I rate Devil’s Temptation as a pretty good horse – he’s had a lot of bad luck in Alice.
“He won the Lightning (1000m) and then had a poor run after being in a sticky position in the Pioneer Sprint (1200m) before coming 10th.
“He copped a bit of kick back that really hurt his eye in the next start.
“After that he stumbled at the gates losing his rider, Casey Hunter.
“He ran a pretty good race there at Alice Springs last start over 1200m with Casey on board again.
“He finished second with 59kg to Cut It Out, who carried 52kg.
“I thought he would run a place on Saturday, I didn’t think he was going to beat Eastwood ($1.65 fav) because we all had the same weight.
“Glock didn’t get over the right distances in Alice, he’s a 1000m specialist – 1100m at a max.
“He has got pretty good form from Queensland.
“He did nothing last start in Alice Springs, but I’d always planned to bring him regardless of how he performed.
“I wanted to run him in that race on Saturday and hopefully run him in the Montgomerie Lightning (1000m) on Cup Day – that was the plan with him.”
Gleeson, along with fiancé Dylan and son Bowie, arrived in the tropics on July 8 after making the arduous 1,500km trip up the Stuart Highway.
Dylan and Bowie flew back to Alice Springs two days later.
Gleeson and Bairstow have already discussed having starters at the annual Katherine Cup meeting on August 13 en route back to the Red Centre following the Darwin Cup Carnival.
There are a few boxes that have to be ticked for that to occur, and Gleeson was non-committal.
Getting her horses home safely is Gleeson’s main priority, and with Bairstow’s commitments back in Alice Springs a pit stop in Katherine might just be a bridge too far.
Gleeson, however, confirmed that Dataset would back up in the $20,000 Silks Gin And Jazz Night 0-70 Handicap (1600m) on Day 5 of the Darwin Cup Carnival this Saturday.
She remains hopeful that Above Everage will also get a start in a $20,000 maiden over 1100m – there were 18 nominations.
Meanwhile, $3 hope Kyd Rock (Casey Hunter) finished second behind Greg Connor’s $2.40 favourite Radio Room (Jess Philpot) over 1600m (0-64) at the Pioneer Park meeting on Sunday for the Gleeson stable.
And the Red Centre is clearly never far from Gleeson’s thoughts.
“Thanks to the guys as well for keeping everything else going at home too, not just up here in Darwin,” she said.
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