She has tasted victory in Melbourne in the past, but Top End trainer Emma Steel has finally enjoyed success during the Darwin Cup Carnival.
Steel’s five-year-old gelding Gone Bye has now come into calculations for the $200,000 Darwin Cup (2050m) on August 1 after posting a brilliant win in Saturday’s $50,000 Buntine Handicap (2050m) at Fannie Bay.
The Buntine has always been one of the major races for the stayers leading up to the Cup, and in 2020 it was bumped from 1900m to 2050m.
Last year, Steel finished second in the Buntine when Skaldak finished behind the Angela Forster-trained Lotion.
Gone Bye arrived from NSW specifically for the Cup and secured his spot in the Northern Territory’s biggest race with a win on Day 4 of the Darwin Cup Carnival that could only be admired.
Jumping from the outside gate in a field of 10 starters, jockey Adam Nicholls had the Al Maher gelding positioned in the middle of the track at the top of the straight as his mount gradually picked up speed for the next 350m.
Turning out of the home straight, Nicholls finally joined the pack with Gone Bye sitting outside joint leaders Yesugei (Sonja Wiseman) – who was camped on the fence – and Wicked Addiction (Wayne Davis).
Nicole Irwin’s Yesugei ($21) and Gone Bye ($13) then took over in front going up the side at the 1500m with Kym Healy’s Wicked Addiction ($13) slipping to third ahead of Gary Clarke’s $2.30 favourite Tugga War (Jarrod Todd).
Entering the back straight Gone Bye went to lead and for the next 500m he held sway from Yesugei, Wicked Addiction, Tugga War and Kerry Petrick’s $7 hope Boom Boom Sweet (Casey Hunter).
Other Darwin Cup hopefuls Vallabar (Paul Shiers), Orcein (Jason Lyon) and Danon Roman (Sairyn Fawke) – second in the 2021 Cup – were well adrift of the leaders with 800m to go as the field prepared to exit the back straight.
There wasn’t much change in the order for the next 400m approaching the final corner, and before turning for home Gone Bye – who had edged a little further in front – and Wicked Addiction had kicked clear of their rivals.
Despite lumping 58.5kg and burning plenty of petrol for the first 500m, Gone Bye just kept going and was never in danger defeat before overcoming an honest combatant in Wicked Addiction (54kg) by two lengths.
2022 Buntine Handicap race replay | Saturday, July 16
It was also an excellent Cup trial for Wicked Addiction, a lightly raced four-year-old gelding from South Australia, who continues to impress since arriving in Darwin after performing with distinction during the Alice Springs Cup Carnival in April and May.
Gone Bye and Wicked Addiction ran the rest off their legs with the bunched group of Tugga War and stablemate Vallabar ($8), Chris Nash’s Danon Roman ($15), Angela Forster’s Orcein ($8) and Boom Boom Sweet finishing eight lengths adrift.
Nicholls’ daring tactics were comparable to the strategy employed when he guided the Gary Clarke-trained Wolfburn to victory in the $75,000 Darwin Guineas (1600m) on July 2 on Day 1 of the Cup Carnival – and amazingly the three-year-old gelding also jumped from gate 10.
For Steel and Nicholls, it was a memorable occasion as they are also partners.
Gone Bye was victorious on debut for Randwick trainer Mark Newnham in November 2019 in a 1300m Hawkesbury maiden and posted four other wins at Randwick, Canterbury and Warwick Farm from 1300-2000m.
His last win in NSW was in December 2020 over 2000m (0-88) at Randwick and his last start in NSW was on April 23 at Randwick when he finished fourth over 1800m (0-88).
Gone Bye, who also has five minor placings in 23 starts, debuted at Fannie Bay when he finished seventh behind Playoffs – also a Top End debutant – in the $60,000 Chief Ministers Cup (1600m) the previous Saturday – yet another important race leading up to the Darwin Cup.
“He slipped out of the gates that day and then he copped kick back, so we just opted to push forward and when he’s in front he’s very hard to run down,” Steel said.
“After watching all his replays in Sydney we decided that he’s probably better off going forward.
“When he hit the lead – he was travelling that comfortable down the hill (approaching the home turn) I thought he would be very hard to run down.
“He pulled up enormous on Sunday morning, I can’t fault the horse.
“That will be it now – onwards to the Cup.”
Gone Bye had a few minor hiccups when he arrived in Darwin, so it perhaps came as no surprise he couldn’t get going in the Chief Ministers Cup.
“He was actually under done that day – we haven’t had him that long,” Steel added.
“When we got him he had a few niggling issues, which have taken a while to resolve.
“I thought he might have been a bit under done going into Saturday, but he’s proved me wrong.
“It was a tough and tenacious win.”
Horses from interstate either return or head north for the first time at this time of year for the riches on offer during the Darwin Cup Carnival, and Gone Bye is no exception.
Steel confirmed that the Darwin Cup has always been on the radar.
“Ben Horne is a longtime friend of mine – he wanted a Darwin Cup horse,” she said.
“I found Gone Bye online – I’ve been looking for a while and I thought he was a perfect candidate because he’s on speed, tough and hard to run down.
“Ben’s bought him outright, so that’s great for him.
“I hadn’t won any of the Darwin features until Saturday.
“I’ve won at Flemington and Moonee Valley when I was training down in Victoria.
“It was tremendous, especially with Adam also riding the horse.”
Nicholls, who is the stable rider for Steel, also does track maintenance at Fannie Bay during the day for Darwin Turf Club after track work in the morning.
“Things are terrific – Adam helps me in the morning and afternoon through the week, and Saturday was exhilarating,” Steel said.
“We’re just a great team and it was really good for it all to come off after the issues we’ve had with the horse in the early days.”
Originally from Victoria, Steel arrived in Darwin three years ago and continues to pick up winners on a regular basis.
“I’m born and bred in Geelong, so I started training down there,” she said.
“I’ve had my license since 2004.
“I had a good mare called It’s Poets Day, she won at Flemington and Moonee Valley a couple of times.
“I then moved to the Riverina in NSW and I was a Berrigan girl for 10 years.
“I won a lot of races in the Riverina, including two Berrigan Cups and a Deniliquin Cup.
“We’ve always had a small stable and we’ve had a lot of success – it’s good.
“Flemington was my biggest win, but it was just tremendous to win a feature over the carnival in Darwin.
“It’s great.”
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