HIGH FIVE FOR CLARKE
GARY CLARKE has enjoyed many special moments in racing in the Territory, and he celebrated yet another when preparing Wolfburn for his fifth win in the Darwin Guineas, the feature event on Day 1 of the Great Northern Darwin Cup Carnival yesterday .
The lesser-fancied of the Clarke-trained pair in the 1600m feature – Wilsons Prom was expected to be the flagbearer for the stable – Wolfburn was given a peach of a ride by Adam Nicholls, who elected to send his mount forward from an outside draw to take up the pace. He held the lead clearly, although had company from his stablemate and Starlite Valley, the only filly in the race, with Max Fire and Zoomurudi in close attendance .
Down the side, Nicholls allowed Wolfburn a little more rein and it was clear approaching the home turn that it would take a mammoth effort from one of his rivals to run him down .
He shot well clear in the straight and had almost four lengths to spare at the line.
Rising Fire was doing his best work late to take second, with Starlite Valley a game third ahead of Zoomurudi and Sirocco Gale .
The 3YO chestnut son of Snitzel and Alice’s Smart was having his 16th career start, and his second win was celebrated by a big contingent of owners, many of whom were from Victoria .
The trainer’s wife, Sharlene, and Coolalinga Tavern proprietor Damian O’Brien also share in the ownership .
When informed that the only quicker Guineas time had been Finke’s 1:34.81 (Wolfburn ran 1:34.88), Clarke had a beaming smile .
“Is that right?” he said. “Well he wasn’t a bad one, was he? This horse will keep on improving and it’s onto the Derby now in a fortnight,” said the soon-to-be 10-time champion Top End trainer, who saddled up a treble of winners on the day .
It was Clarke’s sixth Guineas win as a trainer and jockey, winning five as a trainer with Mahaffey Road (2010), Gravitational (2014), Finke (2016), Autocratic (2020) and now Wolfburn, and one as a jockey on Nystrom way back in 1999.
Nicholls, a heavyweight rider but one of the best in the business, was delighted to win the race for Clarke .
“He’s been a good supporter of mine and it’s nice to repay him. The horse travelled beautifully throughout and I knew I had them covered a long way out,” said the jockey better know as “Chippy” .