Vallabar wins Katherine Cup as Clarke train rolls on

[Wandering Eyes]

Champion Top End trainer Gary Clarke won the 2022 Darwin Cup with Victorian stayer Playoffs on August 1 before taking out the 2022 Katherine Cup with Tasmanian galloper Vallabar on Saturday.

If you finish third in the Darwin Cup, then you’re more than a decent chance in the Katherine Cup, and that’s how it turned out on Saturday when the Gary Clarke-trained Vallabar (Jarrod Todd) saluted in the $25,000 feature over 1700m at Jim Jackson Racecourse.

It’s yet another feature win for the Clarke-Todd combination in the Northern Territory after securing victory in the $200,000 Darwin Cup (2050m) with Playoffs at Fannie Bay on August 1.

Playoffs arrived in the NT from the Ciaron Maher & David Eustace stable in Ballarat, while Vallabar hails from the Scott Brunton stable at Seven Mile Beach – located some 20km east of Hobart.

Playoffs, a six-year-old gelding these days, and Vallabar, who turned seven on the first Monday in August, landed in the Top End to have a crack at the Darwin Cup.

There is no denying that Playoffs, by Tavistock, was a serious prospect in the NT’s biggest race after bringing strong Melbourne form to the table, and in his one and only lead-up race at Fannie Bay he saluted in the $60,000 Chief Minister’s Cup (1600m) at weight-for-age level on July 9.

Vallabar had been outrageously consistent throughout his racing career in Tasmania before getting a taste of the Top End dirt.

In 24 starts in the Apple Island, the Widden Valley gelding’s record stood at seven wins, four seconds, two thirds, four fourths and four fifths – he finished sixth, seventh and 13th in his three other starts.

In his one and only NT appearance before the Darwin Cup, Vallabar finished fourth in the $50,000 Buntine Handicap (2050m) on July 16 behind Emma Steel’s former NSW galloper Gone Bye.

The extra burden of carrying 61kg in the Katherine Cup after a 54kg impost in the Darwin Cup was no issue for Vallabar ($2.20 fav), who just had too much class for his five other rivals.

Settling third behind Nicole Irwin’s $11 hope Cowley’s Creek (Sonja Wiseman) and Angela Forster’s $3.10 second favourite Starouz (Paul Shiers), who finished 10th in the Darwin Cup, Vallabar made his move with 600m to go approaching the home turn.

The Phil Cole-trained $6 hope Saccharo (Wayne Davis), a last-start winner in open company over 1600m on Darwin Cup Day, suddenly entered the equation when Cowley’s Creek hit the wall and Starouz relinquished the lead to Vallabar.

In the home straight and with 350m to go Saccharo, who is bound for the Birdsville Cup (1600m) in outback Queensland on September 3, was seemingly a genuine threat and set sail after Vallabar, who held a handy two-length advantage.

Vallabar didn’t back down and in fact extended his lead to win by almost three lengths from Saccharo with Starouz third and the likes of Kerry Petrick’s $7.50 prospect Boom Boom Sweet (Paul Denton), Barry Cooke’s $61 outsider Just Hang Up (Casey Hunter) and Cowley’s Creek finishing well adrift.

2022 Katherine Cup race replay | Saturday, August 13 | Vallabar (1st)

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Clarke and Brunton have continued to keep in touch ever since the champion Darwin trainer purchased The Captain, a sprinting marvel in the Top End in recent times, from the Tasmanian trainer after he had three runs for Cranbourne trainer Richard Laming prior to and during the 2018 Darwin Cup Carnival.

“We’ve sort of been in touch on and off ever since – Scott’s always congratulated me here and there whenever the horse has won,” Clarke said.

“He sorted of contacted me out of the blue about Vallabar to see if I thought it would be worth having a go at the Darwin Cup.

“Anyway, he sent him up – probably a month later than when he should have been here, so the horse did a really good job to do what he did I thought.

“He went well in the Darwin Cup and the owners were really happy with how he went in the race.

“He’ll go home again shortly and possibly come back up next year – probably a bit earlier next year to give himself a bit more of a chance at having a go at the Cup.”

After dominating the 2022 Darwin Cup Carnival with victory in five of the eight feature races and 17 wins overall, Clarke was pleased to win the Katherine Cup and clearly Vallabar was cherry ripe.

“I suppose he had the writing on the board with a third in the Darwin Cup,” he said.

“Even though he did go up 7kg on that run he’s still a seasoned old tough handicapper, who in my opinion was always going to be pretty hard to beat no matter what weight he had.”

Before this year’s Katherine Cup, the Katherine Turf Club in conjunction with Thoroughbred Racing Northern Territory re-surfaced the track with 1600 ton of new sand which also added a depth of 80mm around its entire circumference.

Clarke agreed that it made a difference compared to previous years.

“The surface down there was loose – there was no oil with it, so the track was a little bit soft,” he said.

“That’s the feedback we were getting back from the jockeys.

“I just happened to go back and have look at Vallabar’s form – he had two starts on the heavy for two wins.

“I suppose with this horse it played into his favour because all his life he’s worked on a beach in Tasmania – so he’s used to working in soft sand.

“I wasn’t concerned going into the race put it that way.

“If anything I probably gained a little bit more confidence than what I already had.

“In the end he won by a couple of lengths – but if they had went another couple of 100m he’d have won by twice that margin.

“He was powering through it at the finish – whereas with the others they probably had enough towards the end.”

At the end of the 2021/22 Top End season, Clarke won the trainers’ premiership for the 10th year in a row with Todd winning the jockeys’ premiership for a third-straight year.

The last time Clarke and Todd went to the races – Darwin Cup Day – they continued their extraordinary dominance by winning four races, but following their excursion to Katherine they had to be content with a winning double.

Manly Cove ($4), a seven-year-old gelding, won the $19,500 Great Northern 0-70 Handicap (1100m) – the feature race for the sprinters – to end a drought for the seven-year-old gelding stretching back to January 2.

“Manly Cove is part-owned by a group down in Katherine,” Clarke said.

“Each year I try and take a horse down for them.

“Took one down for them last year and they had a win, so we thought he was the right one to be taking down for them this year and it was the perfect race for him.

“It worked out all good.”

After a demanding five weeks of Top End racing followed by a trip to Katherine, you’d think that Clarke would rest up before the second race meeting of the new season at Fannie Bay on August 27.

Perhaps sit back and reflect on the unforgettable highs and unprecedented success he endured during the Darwin Cup Carnival.

No chance.

He found himself working around the stables at home on the Sunday after spending 300km on the road returning from Katherine.

“My life sort of doesn’t stop,” he said.

“There’s no such thing as time off.

“If you don’t get too high following success, you don’t have to come down.

“I try and stay grounded all the time.

“I’ve got two weeks off now before the next race meeting.

“I’ve got a bit of bush work to get stuck into, so I’ll probably go and do a bit out bush.

“Set up camp out bush and do a bit out there before the rain comes in.”

Clarke was asked if that was his idea of a holiday.

“Yeah, that’s my holiday alright – don’t worry about that,” he laughed.

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