Neil Dyer has trained the quinella in today’s feature race the ‘Darwin Cup’ with Hawks Bay finishing too strongly for the field to win by 5 lengths ahead of Palmyra Boy who stuck on strongly for second and Blackbriar got third spot in a photo finish from Very Fast.
Steven Arnold gave a masterclass in the saddle as Victorian galloper Hawks Bay buried a Darwin Cup hoodoo on Monday.
Making his third appearance in the $180,000 Cup, Hawks Bay claimed Darwin’s biggest horse race after being runner-up in 2009 and 2010.
Arnold, who partnered champion galloper So You Think to victory in last year’s Cox Plate, gave Hawks Bay the perfect run.
The heavyweight jockey had Hawks Bay ideally positioned in fourth place before he made his move at the 400-metre mark.
Despite being burdened with 62kg, Hawks Bay joined in strongly and held a decisive margin over his stablemate Palmyra Boy and Blackbriar.
Hawks Bay’s trainer, Kyneton-based Neil Dyer, has been a regular visitor to the Darwin Cup carnival.
It was homecoming win for Arnold who plied his trade in the Northern Territory before heading to Victoria.
But this time he didn’t have to share the spoils after he dead-heated for first with Kingston Reserve in 1995.
AAP TURF
