You’ve got to be a pretty good horse to win the Pioneer Sprint in Alice Springs.
It stands to reason as it’s a $100,000 feature – the premier event for the speedy types over 1200m during the Alice Springs Cup Carnival.
The Terry Gillett-trained Supreme Attraction, a seven-year-old gelding, won the race on Alice Springs Cup Day on April 30 after producing a withering burst in the home straight to pip the Tayarn Halter-trained Expert Witness from Darwin by a neck.
28/5/23 Alice Springs Race 6 Replay – Supreme Attraction (1st)
After 27 days in the paddock, Supreme Attraction ($4.60) returned to the action at Pioneer Park on Sunday and once again he left it late before storming home to overcome the Dick Leech-trained Halgard ($3.40 eq fav) to win the $24,500 open handicap over 1000m.
It was the feature event on the program and although it was Supreme Attraction’s 11th win from 39 starts, it was only his third win from six starts over 1000m after winning a Louth maiden in NSW in August 2018 and an open handicap at Bedourie in Queensland last September.
Statistics were irrelevant as the horse formerly trained by Rodney Robb in Dubbo made it six wins from 13 starts in Alice Springs and he did so lumping 61.5kg with Victorian jockey Mark Pegus in the saddle.
Stan Tsaikos partnered Supreme Attraction in the Pioneer Sprint carrying 54.5kg to give the fellow Victorian hoop, who has been the leading rider in Central Australia for the past two years, his first feature win in the NT.
With Pegus happy to ease to the back of the field in sixth place after jumping from the widest gate, Supreme Attraction was a good five lengths behind the Greg Connor’s front-running Intercontinental (Jessie Philpot) passing the 800m.
Halgard (Jade Hampson) was second from Kerry Petrick’s $3.40 equal favourite Our Luca (Paul Denton), a handy performer over 1000m, Connor’s Bar Gem (Dan Morgan) – who missed the start – and Gillett’s Supreme Times (Dakota-Lee Gillett).
Supreme Attraction started winding up at the 600m, but nothing really changed ahead of him before Halgard started to make ground on Intercontinental, who can be hard to catch when setting the early pace.
Approaching the home turn at the 400m, Pegus left the fence in his quest to overtake his rivals with Supreme Times ($5) – fourth in the Pioneer Sprint – heading wide to sit outside Supreme Attraction as the stablemates went in search of victory.
Straightening for home and with the winning post just 300m away, Halgard – who never left the fence – made his move on Intercontinental ($9) and looked a likely prospect as Our Luca and Bar Gem ($18), who can’t seem to fire a shot these days, started to feel the pinch.
Although Halgard led with 200m to go, Supreme Attraction was motoring home before hitting the front at the 100m to win by half a length with Supreme Times three lengths away in third place.
28/5/23 Alice Springs Race 3 Replay – Real Divine (1st)
Meanwhile, the wily Paul Denton managed to ride a winning double on the six-event card after saluting on Petrick’s Real Devine ($6) over 1200m (0-58) and Dan Morgan’s Barocco Bar ($2.70 fav) in a 1200m maiden.
Real Divine sat behind a pack of four horses for most of the trip before finding space in the home straight to make it two wins from her past three starts from Paul Gardner’s Sadler’s Song (Sonja Wiseman) and Dan Morgan’s Boy Big, who was also ridden by the trainer.
28/5/23 Alice Springs Race 4 Replay – Barocco Bar (1st)
Sitting behind the three pace-setters until the field swung for home, Denton headed to the outside on Barocco Bar before sealing victory to make it two career wins for Morgan as a trainer with Leech’s Gold Is Luming (Hampson) and Terry Gillett’s Macer’s Razor (Dakota-Lee Gillett) filling the minor placings.
28/5/23 Alice Springs Race 2 Replay – Design Artist (1st)
Gardner’s $2.25 bookmaker favourite Design Artist (Hampson), second in the Queen Of The Desert over 1200m (0-76) during the Cup Carnival, sat on the speed on the rails in second place over 1200m (0-70) before hitting the front in the home straight and withstanding a late challenge from stablemate Miss McGregor (Wiseman), who came from the clouds, with Terry Gillett’s Valley Prince (Dakota-Lee Gillett) third.
28/5/23 Alice Springs Race 5 Replay – Rock Of Kryptonite (1st)
Jumping from the outside gate in a field of eight over 1100m (0-64), Ray Viney’s $2.60 favourite Rock Of Kryptonite (Philpot) – third each time in his first two Alice Springs starts – was fantastic after leading from start to finish to win by 1.74 lengths from Russell Bell’s Delago Lad (Casey Hunter), who sat inside the winner most of the way, with Carrol Hunter’s Norse Mythology (Denton) third.
28/5/23 Alice Springs Race 1 Replay – Brat (1st)
Terry Gillett started the day off well when Brat, ridden by his daughter Dakota-Lee, sat three wide after sharing the early before kicking clear in the home straight to make it two wins from his past five starts with a two length win over 1200m (0-58) from George Cooke’s fast-finishing Bean Shoppin’ (Hunter) and Connor’s Manhattan Man (Morgan).
After winning their respective race over 1200m (0-58), Brat and Real Devine picked up the maximum five points in the opening heats of the Red Centre Winter Series with further heats scheduled in June, July and August before the $40,000 Final over 1200m (BM66) on August 25.
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