Kyneton trainer Neil Dyer celebrated victory in the $50,000 Bridge Toyota Cup (1600m) at Darwin with Kaonic on Wednesday from the comforts of his lounge room.
Dyer has remained in Victoria since the start of the Darwin Cup Carnival as he is currently making improvements to his stable, with son James looking after a team of seven horses in the Top End.
Kaonic, who finished fourth in the $200,000 Darwin Cup (2050m) last year, lumped 60.5kg on Wednesday to win the feature race on Day 3 of the Darwin Cup Carnival at the juicy odds of $17 with online bookmakers.
With the well-travelled Stan Tsaikos in the saddle, the seven-year-old gelding never once left the fence after jumping from the inside gate before finding that heavenly gap once turning for home.
Sitting seventh in the 10 horse field at the 1200m when turning into the back straight, Kaonic was cruising as Dick Leech’s $51 outsider Lunch Session (Denicious Smith) held sway from Chris Nash’s $2.25 favourite Dominus (Adam Nicholls).
Dominus just happened to break the Fannie Bay track record for the 1600m at his previous start on June 25 at 0-70 level, but he was making the step up to 0-76 level.
Approaching the home turn the opening along the rails emerged and Tsaikos pounced, and once turning into the straight he set sail after Dominus – who was in front with 200m to go.
Once getting to the front, the Savabeel gelding had to hold off fast-finishing pair Magnossiva (Sairyn Fawke) from the Kym Healy stable, who carried 54kg, and Desert Lass (Paul Denton) from the Lisa Whittle yard.
Magnossiva ($8.50), who caught the eye in his Darwin debut, was well adrift along the back straight before producing an almighty performance to miss catching Kaonic by 0.2 lengths.
On her Top End debut, Alice Springs mare Desert Lass ($18) was 0.7 of a length way in third place with Dominus not far away in fourth place.
For Kanoic, it was just his seventh win from 43 starts – his last victory coming in open company at Eagle Farm over 1825m in August 2020 for previous trainer Chris Waller.
He will now head to the Darwin Cup on August 1, and perhaps his victory didn’t necessarily come as a surprise after a first up third behind Tugga War over 1600m (0-72) on July 2 upon his return to the NT.
“We were a bit excited in the lounge room kicking it home, it was excellent, a fantastic win,” Dyer said on Thursday.
“I reckon on the corner when he took that gap he looked like he was a big winning chance.
“Took him a while to pick them up, but he carried 60.5kg and the second horse carried 54kg.”
It was Dyer’s third win in the Bridge Toyota Cup after saluting with Bel Sir (2014) and Gracious Prospect (2019).
Dyer, who first started taking horses to Darwin in 2008, was even on the phone to Tsaikos before the race on Wednesday.
“About 45 minutes before the race I spoke to Stan,” he said.
“I said ‘look we should be right on the fence behind the leader from that gate, give him a good warm up before the race because he begins a little bit flat-footed’.
“Anyway, he said we should be back fourth or fifth.
“I said you wouldn’t want to be too much further back because he won’t be able to pick them up.
Anyway, I just put the thought in his head about being a bit closer and as it turned out we got back to fifth or sixth after at one stage being third last.
“Stan took the rails run on the corner when it appeared and did a good job.”
Before heading north last year, Kaonic suffered a knee injury when he was kicked by another horse at the Dyer stables.
The wound heeled and he had four starts at Fannie Bay before proving highly competitive in the Darwin Cup won by Highly Decorated.
“Since Kaonic arrived back in Darwin, he’s been on song – we’ve had a trouble free preparation,” Dyer said.
“The reports we’re getting, track work wise and that have been fantastic.
“James, my son, is doing a wonderful job – it’s great for him, it gives him a bit of confidence and a bit of heart.
“I might be there on Palmerston Sprint Day (July 30), I don’t know, but I will hopefully be there Cup Day anyway.”
Dyer has enjoyed unparalleled success in the Top End and he has already won the Darwin Cup on three occasions with Hawks Bay (2011 and 2012) and Royal Request (2017).
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