Mixed bag for Phil Cole on Darwin return

[Wandering Eyes]

Top End trainer Phil Cole and regular stable rider Wayne Davis, who teamed up to win the feature race with Cielo D’oro during Saturday’s Darwin Turf Club meeting. (Picture: Caroline Camilleri/Darwin Photography Professionals)

After a highly successful campaign in outback Queensland, Darwin trainer Phil Cole endured mixed fortunes on his return to Fannie Bay on Saturday.

Cole, who hasn’t been spotted at the racecourse since Darwin Cup Day on August 1, had a win and was literally pipped at the post in two other races, but also suffered the devastation of having a runner euthanised because of injury.

Cielo D’oro, a six-year-old gelding from Victoria, won the feature race on the six-event program for Cole when he prevailed by two lengths against a handy bunch of sprinters in a BM71 Handicap (1100m).

It was his second win in the Top End after saluting on debut over 1000m (BM76) on August 27, and his win on the weekend followed a fourth behind Mister Monaro over 1200m (BM76) on September 10 – the last meeting held at Fannie Bay before the track surface received a facelift leading into the wet season.

Cielo D’oro, who had four wins across Moonee Valley (two), Kyneton and Geelong from 21 starts in Victoria, settled in fifth place in the seven-horse field before jockey Wayne Davis made his move down the side with 500m to go.

Stablemate Military Zone (Cecily Eaton) was camped on the rails but had Chris Nash’s Ideas Man (Paul Shiers), Cielo D’oro and Gary Clarke’s Papalet (Phillip Crich) on his outside for company as all four horses battled for ascendancy turning for home.

Cielo D’oro ($9.50) kicked clear in the home straight with Ideas Man ($5) finishing second for the third time in a row after finishing as the bridesmaid on August 27 (BM76) and September 10 (BM76), while Clarke’s $4.20 hope Mr Cashman (Jarrod Todd) rallied home to pip Mark Nyhan’s fast-finishing Mister Monaro (Stan Tsaikos), a $4.40 chance, for third place.

Darwin R3 replay | Saturday, October 1 | Cielo D’oro (1st)

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“Yeah, it’s always good to get a winner back home first meeting back,” Cole said.

“I think Cielo D’oro might be bit of a smart horse.

“He sort of gets back a little bit, but loves finding the line.

“He is quite a big gross horse and that was probably his undoing second up.

“We thought we had given him enough work, but he blew out at the 80m and that cost him the race second up.”

Cole, whose horse Saccharo saluted on Darwin Cup Day before winning the Birdsville Cup and Bedourie Cup in Queensland, is already looking ahead when it comes to his son of Medaglia D’oro.

“He’s been mixing it with some quality sprinters here in Darwin,” he said.

“For his first win he was quite impressive.

“We said to a few of the owners that we’d just pick off a couple of races and probably try and set him for the feature sprints in Alice Springs and Darwin.

“He’ll probably have one more run this preparation and then have a bit of a rest – looking to go to maybe the Pioneer Sprint in Alice.”

Cole, second in the Top End trainers’ premiership behind Gary Clarke last season, has already won the 2021 and 2022 Pioneer Sprint (1200m) with Smuggling.

Brisbane-based jockey Cecily Eaton made her long-awaited return to Darwin on Saturday and was desperately unlucky not to end the day with a winning double for the Cole stable.

Lining up in an 1100m maiden aboard four-year-old mare Laylah’s Wish, who began her career earlier this year in Queensland, was making her third appearance in the Top End after two previous starts at Katherine and Fannie Bay.

Hitting the front from the outset, Laylah’s Wish ($26) held a healthy lead leaving the back straight and was easily six lengths clear as she negotiated the final bend with 500m to go.

Turning for home the daughter of The Factor was four lengths in front with 350m to go, but Clarke’s $2.80 second favourite Truly Brazen (Todd) – who was making his Darwin debut – stormed home to seal victory by 0.2 of a length.

Sadly, Cole’s other runner in the race, Plymouth Rock (Davis), was sitting in second place in his Darwin debut before fracturing his near foreleg with 600m to go and was humanely euthanised.

Eaton suffered a similar fate when Tsugaru ($15), a five-year-old gelding, looked set to win his first race at Fannie Bay at the fifth attempt over 1300m (0-70) before he was swamped by Clarke’s $1.90 favourite The Mistral (Todd) at the post to go down by three quarters of a length.

Tsugaru, formerly of Victoria, jumped from the outside gate in the eight-horse field and was sitting six deep as a host of rivals vied for the early lead.

The son of Kuroshio eventually put the brakes on and settled in sixth place, but once turning for home he was still well adrift in fourth place before setting sail after Chris Pollard’s $10 hope All Stardom (Casey Hunter), the leader, Clarke’s $4.20 chance Obligatory (Tsaikos) and Tayarn Halter’s $9.50 contender Don’t Say It (Sonja Wiseman).

Tsugaru was in great shape before The Mistral, who was a mile back in sixth place at the 400m mark, pounced to make it two wins from five starts since arriving in the NT, while Obligatory finished third.

“Cecily just got done and beaten in a couple of races,” Cole said.

“She jumped out and rode them all really well – she thought she’d won on Tsugaru.

“That’s racing, you can’t win them all – second though is better than running fifth.”

Eaton, who has been riding for 24 years, thoroughly enjoyed her excursion to Darwin and wouldn’t hesitate to make the trip again if invited.

“It was good, lovely to be up there again – the track seemed to be quite nice,” she said from her Brisbane home on Monday.

“It’s helpful getting them up the front, it’s a good position to be in.

“Philip just said to ride Laylah’s Wish based on how she feels.

“He’s pretty easy to ride for – he just lets you make the decisions.

“Laylah’s Wish bounced to the front pretty cruisy, she was just unlucky she got nailed on the line.”

For Eaton, who has spent most of her career riding in Queensland, it may have been a similar story with Tsugaru in the closing stages of his race, but it was a different scenario.

“Tsugaru didn’t really have the motor to sort of match them early, so I pulled back on him as they were going hammer and tong up front,” she said.

“He then got back in behind them and copped a bit of kick back, he resented that, so I peeled him out a little bit wider to just get him out of that.

“He went on with the job then and rounded them up, and yeah, he was unlucky.

“The other horse (The Mistral) came around him and nailed us as well.”

All up, it wasn’t a bad day for Eaton after also finishing fifth behind Cielo D’oro aboard Military Zone ($51), sixth behind Freddy The Eagle over 1300m (BM54) on Nokondi ($10), and 10th behind Bat Pad over 1200m (0-58) as the pilot of Sabaku ($51) for Cole.

“Yeah, it was great, I had a really good time,” she said.

“The people up there, the staff, the stewards, the jockeys, and the trainers – everyone was really welcoming.

“It was a little bit different to here in Brisbane actually, I’m not saying it’s bad here, but there just seems to be a community up there.

“Everyone seems to get on and have each other’s back, but they’re still competitive – it was really enjoyable.”

And Eaton was full of praise for Cole, whom she has ridden for in the past when she winged her way to Darwin.

“Philip turns out his horses really good, they all look well presented and he does a good job with his staff.

“He has plenty of staff who did a fine job here in Darwin when he and his family were in Queensland.

“He doesn’t look like he skimps on anything and credit to him – he got a winner as well on Saturday, so that was good.”

Cole was certainly pleased with the performance of Tsugaru.

“He has probably been a little frustrating,” he said.

“We bought him, he got to Darwin and he’s struggled a bit with the weather and the midges attacked him when he first got here.

“Every start he has just been running against super, strong and competitive (Darwin Cup) Carnival-type horses and just hasn’t really had much luck.

“Keeps drawing wide barriers.

“Even on Saturday, he just had no luck – he was wide throughout, but he just kept hitting the line.

“He definitely has got a few wins in store.”

Cole emphasised that Tsugaru had an allergic reaction to the midges and had hives before all his hair fell out.

Despite a period of recuperation, the hives remained and there was also a lot of swelling, as well as hematomas around his girth, so his workload was reduced.

He eventually made a full recovery and good times clearly lie ahead if his narrow loss on the weekend is any guide.

Tsugaru’s stablemate Exgames, with Davis in the saddle, finished third behind To The Point in the other 1100m maiden on Saturday.

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