Phil Cole a big day on Wednesday with three winners, and now the Darwin trainer has his fingers crossed that Tubthumper can deliver in the $135,000 NT Derby (2050m) on Saturday.
The filly, who has only had eight career starts, is among the leading hopes in the three-year-old feature after winning the $75,000 Darwin Guineas (1600m) at Fannie Bay two weeks ago – Day 1 of the Darwin Cup Carnival.
If the daughter of Zoustar wins, she will pick up a $50,000 bonus as the inaugural winner of the ‘Darwin Double’ – awarded to connections should their horse take out both the Guineas and Derby.
It replaces the Triple Crown, where $100,000 was available if a horse won the Guineas, Derby and Darwin Cup (2050m) – achieved only twice, by Brinney (1989) and Ventilago (1996) when the Cup was 2000m.
Tubthumper had five starts for three minor placings in NSW and Queensland last year for trainer Annabel Neasham before relocating to the NT.
Two seconds in an 1100m Gold Coast maiden and a 1350m Ipswich maiden topped the charts, but there was also a third in a 1200m Gold Coast maiden.
Before winning the Guineas at $10 with in-form apprentice Emma Lines in the saddle, Tubthumper made it two wins from as many starts at Fannie Bay in June in a 1200m maiden and a 1600m 0-58 race with Wayne Davis as the pilot.
Cole agrees the Derby will be big test for Tubthumper, who will be ridden by Davis after he missed the Guineas because of suspension.
“She’s been doing everything right, just a little query whether she runs a strong 2050m,” Cole said.
“Couldn’t be happier with what she has done since her Guineas run.
“We’ll just see how she ends up going on Saturday, but I expect her to go really well.
“You can’t fault her form, you can’t fault her toughness.
“There’s some decent horses in the Derby and they’ve also got to make that big step up to 2050m, but she beat them in the Guineas.”
2023 Darwin Guineas replay – Tubthumper
Dick Leech’s Century Fox (a narrow second in the Guineas), Neil Dyer’s Fierce Legend, Chris Nash’s Fortis In Armis, Kevin Lamprecht’s Iknowhatyouredoing, Kerry Petrick’s Anphina and Peter Stennett’s Bluffed are the only runners who have raced over 2000m and beyond.
Despite Tubthumper’s impact in the Top End, Cole said that it didn’t exactly happen overnight.
“We originally bought her to send her to Alice for the Guineas down there and then progress on to the Darwin carnival,” he said.
“She wasn’t at her best when we got her from the spelling farm and it just took a long time to get her fit.
“She was a pretty lazy and laidback filly.
“I wasn’t happy with her to send her to Alice, so we kept her in Darwin and just got her going.
“I thought that she was really tough in the Guineas.
“Century Fox got to her in the Guineas, but she definitely kept on kicking under the vigorous riding of young Emma and held on at the finish.”
Speaking of 17-year-old Lines, who has 20 wins for the season to sit third behind Jarrod Todd (39) and Sonja Wiseman (30) in the Top End jockeys’ premiership, Cole can only admire his young apprentice.
“Emma has been riding well since the day she started,” he said.
“She’s probably kicked every goal that she has been asked of and you can’t take anything back from that.
“She’s got a great strike rate, impressive stats and keeps improving every ride.
“It took her long time to get her licence, and she’s had a couple of falls and injuries.
“She keeps bouncing back, she’s a tough girl, works hard and it’s good to see her reap the rewards.”
On Wednesday, Cole and Lines celebrated a treble with Afternoon Tea, Star Magnum and Nokondi.
With 33 wins this season, he sits second in the trainers’ premiership race behind Gary Clarke (49).
“It was a great result on Wednesday, I thought that we had a lot of live chances,” Cole said.
“A few of them have been going well.
“We haven’t been over-racing too many over the carnival, we’ve only had four or five runners a meeting and just trying to place the horses in the right races.
“It was probably nice to get a couple of extra results on Wednesday, the team is flying at the moment.
“Both of our jockeys, Wayne and Emma, are riding well.
“It’s good to see that we’re finally getting some dividends.”
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