After an imposing debut victory in the Northern Territory in early June, Victorian raider Our Destrier continues his progress towards the $200,000 Great Northern Darwin Cup (2050m) on August 1 this weekend.
The five-year-old gelding from the Kym Hann stable in Bendigo lines up in the $60,000 Asian United Food Service Chief Ministers Cup (1600m) at standard weight-for-age at Fannie Bay on Saturday.
It’s the feature race on Day 2 of the 2022 Darwin Cup Carnival, and the Chief Ministers Cup is renowned as the race where participants give their engine a serious fine-tune with the Darwin Cup in mind.
Eight horses in the past 20 years have won the Chief Ministers Cup before going on to claim the Darwin Cup, including as recently as last year when South Australian galloper Highly Decorated achieved the feat for trainer Nicole Irwin.
Tongues were certainly wagging in the Top End following Our Destrier’s performance in the Adelaide River Cup (1600m) on June 4.
In the seven-horse field, Our Destrier settled at the rear of the field before hitting the go button when the pressure escalated once leaving the back straight.
After being forced three wide to round the leaders, he sprinted away in the home straight to win by three lengths in the respectable time of 1.35.00 – which was just 0.47 seconds outside the track record.
The ease of the win bordered on the ridiculous, but the fact Our Destrier showed little fatigue was an early indication he could be a force come the Darwin Cup Carnival.
Our Destrier earned a trip north after finding form in December and January with a win at Albury followed by two wins at Murray Bridge – all wins were over 1600m with that second win at Murray Bridge at 0-82 level.
In 18 career starts, the gelding has only raced beyond 1600m once – that was January last year when he finished 11th over 2000m at Wangaratta at 0-64 level.
Something to consider as the Darwin Cup is 2050m, but that Adelaide River Cup win was something out of the box.
The picture will be a lot clearer following the Chief Ministers Cup.
Stan Tsaikos, who will partner Our Destrier on Saturday after booting him home to victory in his Darwin debut, doesn’t think there will be a problem when it comes to Hann’s charger negotiating the 2050m despite the fact he is unproven over the journey.
Hann, who arrived in Darwin six weeks ago with a team for six, rates the horse – but there has been a slight issue since his last appearance.
“The horse has done well, but we have had one slight hiccup along the way – he was just a bit foot sore,” Hann said on Thursday.
“We think that he has gotten over all that.
“Work on Tuesday was very good, so at this stage everything is good heading into the race on Saturday.”
And Hann couldn’t hide his delight following Our Destrier’s last start effort.
“It was a great way to kick off his Darwin campaign,” he said.
“You would hope that they could all start as well as that.
“Horse is good, feeling well, he’s fresh and he’s enjoyed his time.
“Definitely trimmed up a lot since then – just had to keep him ticking over.
“He seems like he has done well since that last run, which was very impressive.”
The Mark Nyhan-trained Trident has been one of the most consistent horses in the NT in the past 12 months – regardless of the race or distance – and he perhaps poses the biggest threat to Our Destrier.
Trident stormed home when a last start third in open company over 1000m in Darwin on June 18, and that was after returning from the Red Centre where he finished fourth in the Alice Springs Cup (2000m) on May 1.
Nicole’s Irwin’s Masterati just loves Fannie Bay and was a last start winner in open company over 1300m on June 25, while Jason Manning’s Nor De Rue – third in the Darwin Cup last year – has returned from a solid campaign in South Australia and was a last start third in that race Masterati won a fortnight ago.
Emma Steel’s Gone Bye from NSW and Gary Clarke’s Playoffs from Victoria have their first starts in the Top End as look ahead to the Darwin Cup, and they most certainly have the class to be competitive.
Angela Forster’s Orcein is the other starter and despite boasting a record that most would deem better than average he will most likely jump as the outsider – that’s not to say that he can’t win.
“I think the hardest to beat is going to be Trident,” Hann said.
“Outside of that, I think the race sort of falls away a little bit.
“We’ll find out on Saturday, especially in a weight-for-age race – everything is level.”
Should Our Destrier making it back to back wins, Hann is aware that he will more than likely face the Chris Nash-trained Dominus down the track – perhaps in the Darwin Cup.
Dominus set a new track record for the 1600m at Fannie Bay when he stopped the clock at 1.34.22 – the previous mark was 1.34.53 – after blitzing his 0-70 rivals by six lengths a fortnight ago.
The five-year-old gelding, who finished fifth against open class sprinters over 1200m on June 11, is due to return in the $50,000 Bridge Toyota Cup (1600m) for the 0-76 class on Wednesday.
“Dominus was very impressive on a day where a lot of horses did run good times – the track was quite firm.” Hann said.
“He did break the track record, so you can’t take anything away from him.
“All I can do is worry about my own horse at the moment.
“If I start worrying about everyone else’s horses I’m not doing my job properly.”
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