Former Victorian galloper Saccharo arrived in the Top End with little fanfare, but the six-year-old gelding has seemingly clicked into gear already after just two starts.
He debuted at Fannie Bay on June 4 for local trainer Phil Cole and finished two and a half lengths behind Nicole Irwin’s Highly Decorated, last year’s Darwin Cup winner and the star of the 2021 Darwin Cup Carnival, in third place over 1200m at 0-79 level.
Three weeks later, Saccharo finished three and a half lengths adrift of handy performer Masterati, another charger from the Irwin stable, in second place in open company over 1300m.
Saccharo makes his first Darwin Cup Carnival appearance on Wednesday when he squares off against 0-76 opposition in the $50,000 Bridge Toyota Cup (1600m).
It’s the feature race on Day 3 of the Darwin Cup Carnival – Ladies’ Day.
After lumping 55.5kg and 55kg in his first two starts in the Top End, Saccharo has been handicapped with a 60kg impost.
Late Tuesday afternoon, Saccharo was a $9 quote and was sitting on the fifth line betting behind Chris Nash’s Dominus ($2.30), Gary Clarke’s Giant Leap ($5), Angela Forster’s Starouz ($7.50) and Kym Healy’s Magnossiva ($8.50).
At his last start on June 25, Dominus broke the Darwin track record for the 1600m when he pole-axed the opposition at 0-70 level by six lengths and will definitely take some stopping.
With Adam Nicholls in the saddle, the five-year-old gelding sat five wide in the early stages before hitting the front and was never headed – reducing the 1600m mark from 1.34.53 to 1.34.22.
Nicholls and Dominus team up once again in the Bridge Toyota Cup.
“Obviously, Dominus is going to be very hard to beat,” Cole said on Tuesday.
“He destroyed the field last start breaking the track record.
“If he reproduces that performance over the mile again tomorrow, I think that we probably won’t be able to match it with him.
“Looking at the speed map, I reckon that Dominus will probably try and lead again.
“From our barrier (five) I think we’ll be sitting second behind him and hopefully try and run him down in the home straight.”
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Saccharo has proven extremely competitive in 15 appearances over 1600m having posted wins at Bendigo (0-70) and Flemington (0-64).
That race at Bendigo took place in October last year and that was in fact his last victory.
His other win was a 1422m maiden at Sale in the third of his 28 career starts in August 2018 before finishing second over 1420m (0-64) at his next start at Flemington.
In three starts over 1600m at Morphettville in Adelaide in December and January, Saccharo finished third (0-72), third (0-76) and fourth (0-82).
In in his one and only other start in 2022 before arriving in the Northern Territory he finished seventh over 1600m (0-70) at Moonee Valley on February 18.
Saccharo has also left his mark at Caulfield, Sandown, Ballarat and Cranbourne, so the fact he has been placed twice in as many starts in Darwin perhaps comes as no surprise.
“He’s been very consistent with his two runs so far,” Cole said.
“He’s got really good mile form, he has never really performed much over further than that.
“We’ve been very happy with his performances and we are nominating him for the Darwin Cup.”
The $200,000 Darwin Cup (2050m) is scheduled for August 1, but a lot will hinder on how Saccharo performs on Wednesday.
Saccharo was previously trained in Victoria by Archie Alexander, who is based in Ballarat.
“We bought the horse really cheap off the online auction,” Cole said.
“It was a surprise how cheap we bought him for.
“We’ve got a great bunch of owners in him.
“He’s by Magnus – I’ve got a few Magnus’ and they sort of love the dirt.
“Good honest horses and they always seem to keep trying.”
Wayne Davis, who rode Saccharo in his first Top End start, replaces Sonja Wiseman in the Bridge Toyota Cup as Wiseman has been booked to ride Mark Nyhan’s $10 hope Pembroke Castle.
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