Kyneton trainer Neil Dyer believes he has two genuine contenders should they start in the $200,000 Darwin Cup (2050m) on August 7.
Dyer has already won NT’s biggest race three times with Hawks Bay (2011, 2012) and Royal Request (2017), and has high hopes for Kaonic and Mohican Heights in this year’s event.
Having already arrived in the Top End for his 16th-straight Darwin Cup Carnival campaign, which starts on July 8, Dyer has three runners at Fannie Bay on Saturday – Hettinger, Latest Bentley and Oliver Bullet.
Kaonic (49:7-2-2), an eight-year-old gelding by Savabeel, finished fourth in the 2021 Cup behind Highly Decorated before coming second behind Playoffs last year.
Mohican Heights (26:5-3-1), a six-year-old gelding by Australia, will make his NT debut this weekend, having started his career in the British Isles before relocating to Australia.
“I was anxious to get Kaonic back here,” Dyer said.
“It’s his third go in the Cup, he ran a good second last year to a good horse – another 50m he probably wins the race.
“He got held up, we were following the favourite Living The Dream and we had to get off its back, get around it and then get going through the pack, so it was a good run.
“I’ve never won the Cup first go, it always takes two or three goes with a horse.
“Hawks Bay and Royal Request needed a couple of goes before they won it.”
On that basis, Mohican Heights, formerly trained by Chris Waller, may find it hard to win the Cup – but he boasts a respectable CV.
“He’s still racing very well and is a 91 rater, and in his last six or seven starts he’s won $160,000,” Dyer added.
“Last September, he ran at Flemington over 2500m and High Emocean won the race – Mohican Heights ran second with Melbourne Cup winner Vow And Declare third.
“He’s a classy horse – he ran in the Epsom Derby (2420m) and ran third in the King Edward VII (2406m) at Ascot in 2020.
“He’s northern hemisphere bred, so he’s really only a five-year-old, and he’s not a very big horse.
“After the second to High Emocean he won an $85,000 race in Brisbane in February over 1800m, so that’s what makes us still think he’s going to be competitive in the Darwin Cup.”
Dyer has brought nine horses to Darwin with Munster, Fierce Legend, Teng Hui Feng Li and an unnamed three-year-old gelding completing the line up.
“We’ve settled in good since arriving, we’ve clipped all but one of the horses – they all came up here with a woolly jumper on,” Dyer said.
“We trialled three on Tuesday and I’m looking forward to getting started on Saturday.
“Latest Bentley is nine, but he’s still racing well and has a good record in Darwin, so we brought him back for another go up here.
“I brought Oliver Bullet up here as a three-year-old in 2021 and we were trying to treat him as a shorter-distance horse.
“Two starts ago he won his maiden over a mile at Ararat and hopefully he’s turned the corner.
“He’s starting to show us that he’s suited to the mile and going to do something over the mile.
“We’ve got Munster, a sprinter that former Darwin Cup-winning trainer Michael Hickmott has entrusted to us.
“Fierce Legend, another three-year-old, is a new one – he came from the Richard and Will Freedman.
“He’s had eight starts and has ran a couple of seconds – he’s a good synthetic-track horse, he’s a 2000m horse and he’s our Darwin Guineas and Derby horse.
“Teng Hui Feng Li, second in the 2021 Guineas, is back to have another go and the three-year-old we brought up could have a couple of runs by the end of the carnival.”
Dyer, who recently added a pool, treadmill and 10 new stables to his Kyneton complex, suffered a blow en route to Darwin when one of his horses, a three-year-old earmarked for the Guineas and Cup, died of colic at Port Augusta.
On a brighter note, Hettinger, a four-year-old gelding purchased from the Newcastle stable of Kris Lees, saluted for the first time in his 17th career start at Alice Springs over 1400m (BM54) on June 4.
“Yeah, that was a bit of a sweetener because the episode in Port Augusta was a dampener – we’ve never experienced that in 15 years,” Dyer said.
“Hettinger is Kaonic’s half brother, he has had six starts for us and we only bought him hoping that he’d handle the dirt like his brother does and it looks like he will.”
Alice Springs R4 replay – June 4, 2023
Winner: Hettinger
More horse racing news
