Crackajack proves too quick for rest of field after setting early pace

THREE winners one week, another three winners the next.

That’s how leading Darwin trainer Gary Clarke has celebrated the last two meetings at Fannie Bay.

Five-year-old gelding Crackajack (Brendon Davis) made it 43 wins for the 2016/17 season for the Top End’s champion trainer with an emphatic victory yesterday.

Leading his rivals a merry dance, the former Victorian galloper won the Darwin Horse Floats Handicap (1600m) by a lazy nine and a half lengths.

A winner over 1600m at Adelaide River on June 3, Crackajack finished fourth last week over 1600m back at Fannie Bay before yesterday’s fivestar performance.

Crackerjack’s triumph followed wins by Clarke duo King Kazou and Kiss The Condor in the two previous races.

The Mark Nyhan trained Grab For Power (Wayne Kerford), the Jason Manning trained Tatamagouche (Vanessa Arnott) and the Neil Dyer trained Sandhill Ruler were keen to assume the early lead along with Crackajack.

Along the back straight, Sandill Rule lost touch with the leaders before Grab For Power faded turning for home.

At the blink of an eyelid, Tatamagouche ended up hitting the wall as Crackajack found another gear.

In the end it was a procession. Of all the eyecatching efforts yesterday, the Gary Lefoe trained Shogun’s Reign ( Raymond Vigar) was nowhere to be seen before rattling home to grab second place.

Grab For Power ended up pipping Sandhill Rule for third place – and it was hard to fault either horse on their runs.

Having run second over 1800m at Sandown and after winning over 2000m at Donald, Crackajack had the staying power to trouble his rivals yesterday.

“He was probably the fittest horse in the race and I wasn’t all that disappointed with his last run,” Clarke said.

“However, he can be unreliable which can be frustrating.

“If I can find the right race for him he will always prove hard to beat, just like today.”

Winning jockey Brendon Davis hinted that there was a strategy going into the race.

“Going forward early was the plan to see if the others could go with him,” he said.

“He has won over 2000m back in Victoria, so it was a case of waiting to see what happened once he got to the front.”