Andrew O’Toole’s Saturday best at Darwin (24/10)

Racing takes place at Fannie Bay in Darwin today following on from an excellent meeting held here a week ago on The Everest and Caulfield Cup Day. This time we dovetail with the Cox Plate fixture at Flemington and the Spring Champion Stakes meeting at Randwick, and these feature days of racing around the country really have a positive impact on viewer and participation numbers and turnover. The local meeting is again an excellent one, with five races carded and runner numbers expected to be around the 40 mark.

There will be some 10 riders in attendance, including interstate visitors Richard Bensley and Billy Cray (New South Wales) and Jess Booth, who rode a double last week, again travelling from Adelaide. That will mean that the 13-horse Val Scott Memorial, the fourth race on the card, will require three scratchings.

The third on the card is the $25,800 Ladbrokes Tote Win +10% in October Handicap, a Benchmark 76 event over 1200m and the highest rated race on the day. The event has attracted seven runners, with Field Of Flutes the topweight with 62.5kg, but even with this significant impost, I expect him to be the one to beat.

Trained by Gary Clarke – in fact he gave his trainer his 1,000th Darwin winner back in June this year – Field Of Flutes has been competitive in the best races since making the Top End his home, and four starts back finished sixth to stablemate Boldinho in the Palmerston Sprint. He has since finished twice second, to Genetic Freak (a rival again) and Wild Beau in September, before returning to winning form last time out over 1100m on 3 October.

He carried 61.5kg on that occasion and downed Flying Annie and company in a tough effort, and even with a kilo more on his back this time, he is a model of consistency and from barrier four, Jarrod Todd should be able to give him a nice run in transit. The winner of ten of his 37 starts and over $300,000 in stakes again promises to give a great sight.

Genetic Freak, trained by Tayarn Halter and to be ridden as he has been on the last two occasions by now senior rider Dakota Gillett, looks likely to be the hardest to beat.

After beating Field Of Flutes two starts back, he chased home the same horse into third, beaten just 0.7 lengths, three weeks ago and although drawn the outside gate here, he has to be strongly fancied. He has only had the four starts in the Top End and looks a quality sprinter who should be in the mix once again.

Cotehele is an interesting runner. Now in the stable of Terry Gillett, he was earlier trained by Michael Hickmott and was actually retired from racing after tailing the field in a Benchmark 76 1300m on Day 7 of the recent Darwin Cup Carnival. However, Gillett made the decision to give him another try and the winner of five of his 43 starts showed he still possesses the will to compete when trialling nicely over 900m here last week.

On his best form he would be very competitive, and Stan Tsaikos takes the mount from gate five. It would pay to keep an eye on the tote as far as Cotehele is concerned.

Tartaglia is a newcomer to the Chloe Baxter stable, and the former Paul Snowden-trained 5yo son of Too Darn Hot was a winner two starts back over 1100m at Gosford on 9 July. His most recent run came at Grafton, where he finished fourth and beaten just 1.4 lengths over 1175m in a class six event. Billy Cray, who has been enjoying good success of late in both Darwin and Alice Springs, takes the mount from barrier two. He is another who should be closely watched.

Bon’s Pride, runner-up in last year’s Palmerston Sprint, has been a little below his best in recent times but he went a couple of excellent races early in the Carnival here and only has to reproduce somewhere near his best form to be a threat here, while Atlantic Ocean is second-up from a spell in this and should be improved for his first-up seventh behind Field Of Flutes.

Zing To Win was fifth behind Struck Gold here a week ago and the extra 100m of this event should be to his liking. He made up some ground last time and seems to be on the improve.

The weather in Darwin this week has been fine, hot and humid but there are a few showers forecast for late in the week and into the weekend. The official forecast for today reads: Partly cloudy. High chance of showers, most likely in the afternoon. The chance of a thunderstorm in the afternoon and evening. Light winds becoming north to northwesterly 15 to 20 km/h during the day then tending west to northwesterly during the afternoon. The temperature is forecast to reach 33 degrees, while it will be 25 degrees overnight. There is a 60% chance of 0-9mm – let’s hope it’s closer to zero!

The first race on the five-race card gets underway at 2.17pm (NT time), which is 3.47pm on the eastern seaboard, while the last is timed to go at 5.05pm (NT time), or 6.35pm in New South Wales and Victoria.

BEST BETS

R2 # 1 ORDER ONLINE
Lightly raced galloper who continues to be around the mark each time he steps out. Won three starts back in early September over 1100m and then second over this trip of 1200m to All Inclusive on 19 September before another runner-up placing in stronger company than this behind Bon’s Your Back on 3 October. Can still do a few things wrong but back to this grade from a decent draw, should be very hard to beat.

R4 # 3 DEBATING
Won well over 1200m in this grade on 25 September and although dropping in trip by 100m, should again give a good account of himself. Has been placed four times from eight attempts at this distance and rider Jess Booth and trainer Ella Clarke have enjoyed a tremendous association in recent times. Drawn out a bit but will come in a couple with scratchings, and should again be right in the party.

R5 # 6 VILLA SEVENTYNINE
Twice a winner over this distance of 1600m, including two starts back on the grass at Kununurra. Returned to Darwin and although well beaten, got home nicely behind Hennessy Lad on 25 September. Should be improved by that outing and now in the stable of Chloe Baxter, and with Paul Shiers aboard, promises to give his rivals plenty to worry about, especially dropped back in grade from last time.

SELECTIONS

RACE 1 – 1, 2, 5, 6
RACE 2 – 1, 6, 3, 4
RACE 3 – 1, 3, 2, 5
RACE 4 – 3, 9, 7, 1
RACE 5 – 6, 1, 2, 4

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