The Captain still racking up wins in Darwin as retirement looms

[Wandering Eyes]

The Gary Clarke-trained 10-year-old gelding The Captain, with highly experienced Top End jockey Paul Shiers in the saddle, heading to the gates before taking out the National Seniors Australia Top End Branch Handicap (1300m) at Fannie Bay on September 3, 2022. (Picture: Caroline Camilleri)

The Captain has become one of the most beloved horses in the Northern Territory since arriving at the stable of champion trainer Gary Clarke following the 2018 Darwin Cup Carnival.

The 10-year-old gelding’s longevity is legendary, as his ability to lug the big weights, yet his decorated career may soon be drawing to a close.

On Saturday, he won his 24th career race from 70 starts and made it 17 wins in 31 appearances in the Top End when he overcame open-class opposition over 1300m at Fannie Bay.

With Paul Shiers in the saddle, the son of Captain Gerrard carried 64kg en route to victory over stablemates Syncline (Jarrod Todd) and Patria (Stan Tsaikos).

The former Tasmanian galloper started at $2.70 with online bookmakers and led from start to finish, although $2.35 favourite Syncline (61.5kg) and $7.50 hope Patria (55kg) were making up ground pretty quickly close to home before The Captain prevailed by half a length.

It was veteran chestnut’s first appearance since finishing fourth behind Syncline in the $135,000 Palmerston Sprint (1200m) on July 30.

He carried 61.5kg that day and sat three wide outside the leaders turning for home before hitting the front in the home straight with 300m left to go.

In the end he finished four and a half lengths adrift of the winner – it was a super performance.

Apart from his 24 lifetime wins, The Captain has also finished second 13 times and third 12 times.

He made his debut in a two-year-old maiden over 1000m at Hobart in June 2015 and raced a further three times before posting his first win at Hobart in an 1100m maiden in January 2016.

Throughout his racing career in Tasmania, he never raced beyond 1400m and in 34 starts his record stood at seven wins, eight seconds, eight thirds and four fourths.

Under the guidance of Victorian trainer Richard Laming, The Captain arrived in the Top End in June 2018 and in his first start finished sixth over 1000m (0-76).

The Darwin Cup Carnival started the following week and in two further appearances he finished second over 1200m and third over 1300m at a 0-76 level.

Clarke ended up buying the horse, and following his win at Fannie Bay on Saturday his record in Darwin now stands at 17: 5-2-2 from 31 starts.

“We were pretty lucky really,” the Darwin trainer said.

“Richard Laming brought him up for Scott Brunton from Tasmania.

“I had a horse by the name of Metallic Crown that we had set for a particular race.

“Anyway, we started him and he won.

“It was early in the carnival.

“They had a bit of a crack at him and Metallic Crown won by a nose – he beat The Captain.

“Anyway, that horse that we beat The Captain with never won another race.

“The Captain went on and won another 17 in Darwin, so we must have just caught him on a bad day.

“Come towards the end of the carnival, I just asked Richard Laming if the owners would be prepared to sell him rather than take him home.

“And the rest is history.”

He isn’t really looking forward to the day, but Clarke is resigned to the fact that the curtain will soon fall on The Captain’s career.

“I’ve taken that into consideration,” he said.

“I’ve already put the word out there for a nice home for him.

“He won’t be just going anywhere.

“They’ll have to tick off a few boxes for him to go there.

“He’s got to have the best of the best wherever he goes.

“If something came up next week he could go next week, but if it doesn’t come up we’ll happily persist with him.

“He loves being in work, he loves to race – so I can’t give a deadline or anything like that.

“As I said, if something came up and someone contacted us next week I’d be happy to retire him and let him go and live a happy life somewhere – as long as it’s a really good place for him to go.”

Clarke – who won the Top End trainers’ premiership for the 10th-straight year last season – has trained a lot of good horses, and The Captain is arguably at the top of the tree.

“He’s just every trainer’s dream – he just wants to go to the races and just wants to give you everything he’s got,” he said.

“He’s 10-years-old, carries big weights, and every time you take him to the races he just gives you 110 per cent.

“He just doesn’t leave anything in the tank, he gives you everything.

“He’s just an old war horse.

“He’s just good to have around the stables – he’s great, a lovely horse.”

Clarke was more than pleased with his win on Saturday.

“They tried to bring him undone through the race – one of the lightweights Dominus took him on,” he said.

“He’s carrying 64kg and they were carrying 55kg.

“Dominus ran fourth and he hung on and won.

“He knows where that post is.

“He just kicks off the bend – that’s where he wins a lot of his races.”

Opposing trainers and jockeys in the Top End will tell you The Captain is not only a frightening prospect during a race, but also terribly hard to catch if he gets his own way out in front.

Clarke admitted that running The Captain – who currently has a rating of 98 – infrequently is the best way to race him, but there is also one other significant reason.

“I can’t run him too often because of the big weights,” he said.

“They race a lot benchmarks here and although Saturday’s race was open class he still carried 64kg.”

Despite his outstanding record at Fannie Bay, The Captain has yet to win a race in Alice Springs having finished third on two occasions in five starts.

And he hasn’t won the two feature sprint races in the NT – the Palmertson Sprint (1200m) in Darwin and the Pioneer Sprint (1200m) in the Red Centre.

He has lined up in each race for the past four years, finishing second (2020) and fourth (2022) in the Palmerston Sprint as well as third in the 2019 Pioneer Sprint.

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