Relocating to Alice Springs has certainly revived the fortunes of former South Australian galloper Delago Lad.
Under the guidance of Red Centre trainer Russell Bell, who purchased the five-year-old gelding on-line, Delago Lad made it three wins from as many starts at Pioneer Park on Sunday.
As was the case on each occasion the son of Delago Deluxe proved too good for his rivals and not only has he saluted by big margins, but he was clearly easing up at the finish.
Delago Lad had just one win from nine starts for Morphettville trainer Peter Nolan when he got the money in a 900m maiden at Murray Bridge and little changed when he was transferred to Murray Bridge trainer Len Jarvis in February.
A 10th at Mount Gambier followed by a 14th at Murray Bridge over 900m (BM58) ended Delago Lad’s tenure in SA before he wound up in Central Australia.
Sitting three wide when sharing the lead after jumping from the outside gate (eight) in his Pioneer Park debut over 1000m (BM54) on October 29, Delago Lad ($9.50 with online bookmakers) went on to win by three and a half lengths.
He jumped from the outside gate (six) at his next start over 1100m (Class 2) on November 5 and after holding a commanding lead as the $1.24 favourite went on to win by five lengths.
On Sunday, Delago Lad ($1.95 fav) jumped from gate six over 1100m (0-58) and shared the lead with Will Savage’s Mackinaw (Sonja Wiseman), who sat on the fence, and together they burned off the seven other runners.
Turning for home and with 300m to go, Bell’s charger took off to win by three and a half lengths from Mackinaw ($5) and Kevin Lamprecht’s $11 hope Lisa (Ianish Luximon), who sat in third place from start to finish.
“He looks like he’s found his niche in the Territory, especially on the dirt anyway,” Bell said.
“I saw him on-line, I looked at his early form and thought it was pretty average.
“I thought that if I’m half a chance of turning it around I think he could be half handy if I could get him in the right head space.
“Luckily enough he’s seemed to have done that.
“I also think we’ve just got him happy, he’s a nice horse, he’s like a really nice horse.
“He was bullish when he got here – a bit head strong.
“We just changed things around with the way he works, how he goes about things and it seems to have worked.
“We’ve now got him firing, it’s pretty good.”
Bell is no doubt enjoying the ride with Delago Lad, but is treading with caution.
“I’m not one to race them out of their grade, so he’ll go through his grades,” he said.
“The horse himself could do anything to be quite honest – he’s got the ability.
“He ran a faster time on Sunday than the 0-70 race and also carried 60kg.
“We’ll just poke him through his grades and we’ll just take every day as it comes.
“He’ll probably run in a fortnight again and then we’ll tuck him away maybe or he might even go to the last meeting and test the waters against some of the better and proven horses in Alice Springs.
“See how he goes up in grade and then we’ll see what happens in regards to where we go with him coming into Carnival, I suppose.”
To win three races in a row with any horse is rare achievement, but Bell had every right to feel optimistic on Sunday as Delago Lad has made a serious impact following his arrival.
“He had a bit of pressure, we always knew that Mackinaw, Will Savage’s horse, was going to go forward,” Bell said.
“Even though in saying that Delago Lad beat Mackinaw last start, but it missed the start.
“We knew it was going to go forward – they were both going to go forward no matter what, obviously, but at the end he was just too strong.
“I’m not taking anything away from anybody elses horse in the race, but he’s obviously quite talented here in regards to handling the dirt, so yeah, he was pretty impressive.
“At this stage, I’m not going to get too carried away, but he’s done a really good job, he’s a nice type and he’s the sort of horse – I’ve seen it happen before – that goes from 0-54 grade into a Pioneer Sprint when they find their niche.
“If he keeps going in the right direction then anything could happen with him to be honest because he’s got a ton of ability, so I’ll just see how we go over the next three or four months.”
Former Darwin jockey Phillip Crich, who moved to Murray Bridge before relocating to Alice Springs, has partnered Delago Lad in all three starts.
Crich is making every post a winner as he also booted the Kerry Petrick-trained Kikuyu to its third straight win on Sunday.
“Crichy’s an older jockey and the one thing you know when he goes out there every time is that he’s having a go for you,” Bell said.
“I mean he’s trying his guts out to get every winner he can and he’s done a really good job on Delago Lad.
“He rides him in a bit of track work, he gets on well with the horse, so that’s half the battle with him in regards to trying to turn his form around, getting him in the right head space.
“Crichy seems to get on really well with him, he rides him well, the horse works well for him, so that’s another battle that we’ve sort of won in that regard.”
Meanwhile, the Terry Gillett-trained Supreme Attraction (Paul Denton) was a long last in open company over 1200m on Sunday before producing an extraordinary finish to win his first race in the Red Centre since winning three straight for former trainer Rodney Robb, who is based in Nyngan in NSW, in August-September last year.
Victory certainly made up for the disappointing sixth in open company over 1100m when the seven-year-old gelding ($8) made his return to the NT on October 29 after having just eight starts in central-west NSW and western Queensland.
To relegate in-form pair Bar Gem (Dan Morgan), Greg Connor’s $2.80 favourite, and Roughly (Sonja Wiseman), Paul Gardener’s $3.10 hope, to second and third place, respectively, added further gloss to the win.
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