He once had the chance to train outstanding Australian galloper Alligator Blood, and now Sunshine Coast trainer Billy Healey will have a runner represent his stable in Darwin for the first time.
Healey, who arrived in the Top End on Thursday, is aiming to win the $75,000 Darwin Guineas (1600m) on Saturday with his gelding Rising Fire.
It’s the feature race on the opening day of the 2022 Darwin Cup Carnival.
“I’ve always been keen to one day go up there, so it’s exciting – something new,” he said before boarding a flight to Darwin.
“Hopefully it can pay off, pay a dividend.”
The 24-year-old grabbed plenty of headlines last year when he took over from David Vandyke as trainer of 2020 Australian Guineas (1600m) winner Alligator Blood.
Following back surgery in late 2020, Alligator Blood was due to be transferred to the stable of Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott before ending up with Healey due to interstate COVID-19 regulations.
Alligator Blood, who also finished second in the Silver Eagle (1300m) at Randwick as a four-year-old, raced on three occasions for Healey from August-December in feature events in south-east Queensland.
He finished fourth in the Goldmarket Handicap (1200m) on the Gold Coast, sixth in the George Moore Stakes (1200m) at Doomben, and eighth in the Lough Neagh Stakes (1400m) at Eagle Farm.
Unfortunately for Healey, Alligator Blood never got to race during the Victorian spring carnival before he was transferred to the Waterhouse & Bott stable.
The five-year-old returned to the outstanding form of his three-year-old season with a second in the BRC Sprint (1300m) in May before taking out the Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) on June 11 at Eagle Farm.
To be recognised and to have the privilege of training Alligator Blood is certainly a feather in Healey’s cap, so he would have every right to feel optimistic in regards to Rising Fire’s hopes this weekend.
Rising Fire has only had six starts after starting his career with a first up win in a 1300m maiden at the Gold Coast last October.
That was followed by a sixth over 1400m (0-65) at the Sunshine Coast in March, a fourth over 1350m (Class 1) at Ipswich in April and a fourth over 1600m (Class 1) at Eagle Farm in early May.
He completed his NT preparations with a narrow last-start second over 2000m (Class 3) on the Sunshine Coast Polytrack on May 15.
“He’s a young horse that was bought at the 2020 Magic Millions Ready To Race sale on the Gold Coast and it was always the plan to get him to Darwin eventually for these three-year-old features,” Healey said.
“Most of the ownership group is Darwin based, so he was always bought with that in mind.
“And being a Darwin based ownership group – they’ve obviously got that bonus up there, the lucrative bonus, and they were keen to chase that.
“It was always the plan to try and send him up.”
The bonus Healey speaks of is the Ladbrokes Triple Crown – a $100,000 carrot afforded to the connections of the horse that can win the Darwin Guineas, $135,000 NT Derby (2050m) on July 16 and $200,000 Darwin Cup (2050m) on August 1.
Only two horses have achieved the feat – Brinney (1989) and Ventilago (1996) – with the $100,000 bonus introduced in 1995.
“Fingers crossed, he can be one of them,” Healey said.
“He brings good form to Darwin, he’s going well.
“They’ve got to handle the dirt and things like that up there and handle the pattern up there – but he’s a pretty versatile sort of horse.
“We had a really big opinion of the horse from when he won his debut.
“We thought he’d seem like be a really top sort of horse for the winter down here.
“Probably didn’t quite make the expectations of being a Guineas horse, which they have to be very good to do.
“However, he has always continued to improve and looks pretty well suited to race well on Saturday.”
Darwin trainer Garry Lefoe has cared for Rising Fire ever since he arrived in Darwin, and according to Healey the owners played a significant role securing the services of experienced Top End jockey Paul Shiers for the Guineas.
Not a bad option considering Shiers has saluted in the Guineas on no less than nine occasions.
Shiers has celebrated victory aboard Delway (2004), Carygranite (2006), Brad Star (2007), He’s Here (2008), Hawks Bay (2009), Host Of The Party (2013), Gravitational (2014), Brunswick Street (2018) and Poet’s Landing (2019).
“I’ve never met Paul, but they tell me that he has won the Guineas nine times,” Healey said.
“He’s one of the leading riders up there, so it’s always good to have a bit of experience on board.”
It’s a good thing Shiers has been booked for Rising Fire as he will more than likely jump from the outside barrier (12) against a host of in-form three-year-old opponents.
Greg Connor’s Flying Start, a $4.40 favourite on Thursday, from Alice Springs won the NT Guineas (1600m) in the Red Centre by eight lengths in April before debuting at Fannie Bay against his own age group on June 18 where he finished a close second to Wilsons Prom over 1600m.
Gary Clarke’s Wilsons Prom will line up in the Guineas, while stablemate Wolfburn, Jason Manning’s Max Fire, Peter Stennett’s Pacadow, Mark Nyhan’s pair Rojo Boom and Omoplata, and Kym Healy’s Starlite Valley – the only filly in the race – are also serious challengers.
“There’s a few horses there that go good,” Healey said.
“There’s a horse there with Adelaide listed form Max Fire and Flying Start, who looks like it goes quite well.
“It’s not by all means the weakest Guineas, but there’s a few chances there for sure – but Rising Fire should be in the thick of it.
“He should run well, he’s in good order – he travelled up well.
“He had a jump out there last week and looked quite good, so all reports are good – he’s trained on well from that.
“But obviously he’s just got to handle the track – if he can do that he should be competitive.
“Look forward to him running in the Guineas on Saturday and hopefully progressing through the carnival.
“Push on to the Derby for sure if he runs well, and then we’ll go from there.”
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