WINNING TICKET
Clarke’s sprinter named Top End horse of the year
GARY Clarke’s Ticket To Toorak was the undoubted star of the show at the 2016-17 Top End Racing Awards at Fannie Bay last night.
The sprinter picked up three prizes, including the coveted Carlton Mid Horse of the Year award.
Ticket To Toorak, owned by Clarke’s wife, Sharlene, Channel 9 presenter Jonathan Uptin, Ben Eustace, Andre Rehberg, Samuel Harriss, Nathan Scotton, James Hickey and Alice Springs Turf Club chairman Craig Lambley, was also crowned Sprinter of the Year.
The seven-year-old gelding had nine starts for seven wins, and also claimed the award for the Out of Carnival Performer of the Year, winning each of five starts outside of the Darwin Cup Carnival.
A panel of seven independent judges voted on the awards, with Ticket To Toorak a narrow winner over Niccoco in the sprinter category, while he was a runaway victor in the out-of-carnival section.
Ticket To Toorak’s major wins came in the Coates Hire WFA during the 2017 Darwin Cup Carnival, the Gem Cave Dash at the Alice Springs Cup Carnival and the Ladbrokes Bernborough Club Cup in Darwin in June.
Another notable victory was the Lexus of Darwin WFA at Fannie Bay on Melbourne Cup Day 2016, and he was a gallant fourth, as equal topweight, in the bet365 Palmerston Sprint.
Harreb’s Time, trained by Tayarn Halter, was a worthy winner of the Middle-Distance/Stayer award.
The chestnut scored in the St Patrick’s Day Cup (1600m), finished third in the Sky Metric Mile (1600m) and was the first Darwinbased horse home in the Carlton Mid Darwin Cup (2000m), finishing a gallant fourth to Royal Request.
Pat Johnston’s Delta D’Or won the Three-YearOld of the Year title, his five wins and a second from 10 starts enough to give him the award over Dick Leech’s Jackanory. Delta D’Or won five-straight races in Darwin and Alice Springs from January-April 2017, ending with an all-the-way win in the NT Guineas in the Red Centre.
Clarke was named Champion Trainer for a fifth consecutive year with 51 wins and, in the process, overtook fellow Hall of Famer Stephen Brown.
Brown had twice previously won the award four years in succession, as the trainer with the most consecutive titles, until last night.
Brendon Davis (32 wins) was crowned Champion Jockey for the fourthstraight year, despite spending a number of weeks on the sideline with a hip fracture.
Kate Brooks (seven wins) was a hugely popular winner of the Leading Apprentice title after her career was cut short by a bad fall in Alice Springs on April 22 last year.
Darwin Cup-winning combination Neil Dyer and Jarrod Todd carried off the Asian United Food Service Leading Carnival Trainer and Jockey titles, the Victorian-based duo both amassing nine wins during the eight days of Carnival racing.