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Find your Sport Nation frequencySENTrack: Andrew O’Toole’s Sunday best bets at Alice Springs (06/04)
Andrew O’Toole • April 6th, 2025 12:00 pm
Hadouken, the Darwin Cup winner from 2024, will look to go back-to-back in major NT Cups when he lines up in the $110,000 Ladbrokes Alice Springs Cup today, the culmination of five Carnival days of racing in the Red Centre over the past three weeks.
The 6yo son of Real Impact and the Redoute’s Choice mare Any Other Day, trained at the Gold Coast by Peter Robl, has proven to be a star on the sand and oil-based surfaces of the Territory. He won three from three in Darwin at the Carnival last year, culminating in a heart-stopping victory over Wolfburn in the Darwin Cup (2050m), and in his only outing to date in Alice Springs, he lost no admirers when finishing third, beaten some 6.6 lengths, behind the very much in-form Hasseltoff and Great Buy.
That was over 1600m in the Chief Minister’s Cup and from an inside gate, he encountered some traffic problems which hindered his chances. He is a big horse and ideally needs room to enable him to show his best, so a middle to wide draw would not worry him today. He drew wide when he won the Darwin Cup and travelled on the outside of horses during the run before lodging his winning claim on the outer of Wolfburn in the home straight.
Jarrod Todd, who won the Buntine Handicap (2050m) aboard the gelding during the Cup Carnival in Darwin, was back aboard last week and will again take the reins today in an endeavour to win his second Alice Springs Cup, having guided Count Of Essex to a memorable victory three years ago.
Hadouken also drops in weight from the 59kg he carried at wfa a week ago to 57.5kg, which means he will be getting weight from the two Dick Leech-trained stablemates Hasseltoff and Write Your Name, and judged on his last-start effort and his Darwin Cup win back in early August, he is my on-top selection in the big one.
Hardest to beat could well be the SA visitor Exalted Fire, a last-start winner at Morphettville Parks and placed fourth in the AS Cup 12 months ago. Trained by Michael Hickmott, who is a previous multiple AS Cup-winning trainer, Exalted Fire is the winner of 11 of his 59 starts, and his form in Adelaide recently certainly points to another bold showing here.
He will also have the services of the leading SA rider Rochelle Milnes, who while still an apprentice has shown a maturity beyond her tender years, as evidenced by her recent winning ride in the Adelaide Cup. Milnes was very keen to take the mount on Exalted Fire, with whom she has had a good association, and she will be making her debut in the Red Centre. But such is her quality in the saddle, that will not be an impediment to Exalted Fire’s chances today.
Leech, who won this race two years ago with Write Your Name before that horse completed the big Cups double in the Top End, has an undeniable chance of repeating that success with both Hasseltoff and Write Your Name.
Hasseltoff has been a revelation since coming to Alice, winning three consecutive races and impressing on each occasion. His performance to win the Chief Minister’s, coming from many lengths off the pace, was a tremendous effort and as long as that run and the two earlier wins in hot conditions in the Red Centre haven’t taken the edge off the son of Toorak Toff, he will surely be a trifecta player again.
Write Your Name, after almost entering retirement, has bounced back in sensational style, and the 9yo looked back to his old self with his last two winning efforts over 1600m and 1900m on 16 March and 22 March respectively. He beat Hettinger over the mile, then downed He’s Maverick in the 1900m contest, and stays on the same weight (58kg) here.
Danielle Hirini, the NZ-born rider who has won close on 150 races in her homeland, has been aboard the son of Written Tycoon at his last two victories and has again been entrusted with the mount. She has only been back race riding since the middle of last month, but has displayed a coolness in the saddle that will take her a long way towards victory here.
The chances don’t end there, however, with Darwin’s St Patrick’s Cup winner Crown Waters, Funnyifitwon, who finished third in the St Pat’s Cup, local hope Altar Boy and He’s Maverick engaged and all with decent prospects of success. Last year’s winner Venting should not be left out either, and neither should Kangaroo Court, to be ridden by apprentice Dakota Gillett. It promises to be a tremendous curtain call for the AS Cup Carnival and a fitting finale to what has been a celebration of racing in the Red Centre in recent weeks.
The weather in the Red Centre, after some decent rain early in the week, has come right at just the right time, and a fantastic weekend of weather looks assured. The official forecast for today reads: Sunny. Winds easterly 15 to 20 km/h tending southeasterly during the day then becoming light during the evening. The temperature is forecast to reach a perfect 28 degrees during the day with an overnight low of 13 degrees, while there is a 0% chance of any rain.
The first on the bumper nine-race card gets underway at time of 12.05pm (NT time), which is 12.35pm on the eastern seaboard with daylight saving ending the previous night, while the last is timed to go at 5.05pm (NT time), or 5.35pm in New South Wales and Victoria.
BEST BETS
R5 No 4 STYLE AND GRACELightly-raced 5yo mare purchased from the tried horse sale here 12 months ago. Chased home Hellivit in the lead-up to this $50,000 sales only race a fortnight ago, and will be improved for that effort and the step up in trip by 100m to 1200m. Ella Clarke puts the polish on and with regular rider Aaron Sweeney again in the saddle and jumping from a handy gate of two, the daughter of Impending looks well placed to take home the thick end of the prize.
R8 No 2 IKNOWHATYOUREDOING
Normally slow to jump and can give away a decent start in his races, but possesses a powerful finish that comes into play over this 2000m trip. Won over 2050m in this grade on Darwin Cup Day last year when bolting clear over the concluding stages. Could give his backers a few heart palpitations with 800m to run, but will be getting home hard and can return to winning form here for Hannah Le Blanc.
Normally slow to jump and can give away a decent start in his races, but possesses a powerful finish that comes into play over this 2000m trip. Won over 2050m in this grade on Darwin Cup Day last year when bolting clear over the concluding stages. Could give his backers a few heart palpitations with 800m to run, but will be getting home hard and can return to winning form here for Hannah Le Blanc.
R9 No 3 HADOUKENWarmed up for this with a solid third to Hasseltoff over 1600m in the Chief Minister’s Cup a week ago. The inside draw that day was not really to his liking as he needs room to stretch out and show his best, but with that run under the belt and up to his favoured 2000m, last year’s Darwin Cup winner should be very hard to beat here with Jarrod Todd, who won on him in the Buntine in the Top End last year, again aboard.
SELECTIONS
LADBROKES PIONEER PARK (ALICE SPRINGS) – GOODRACE 1 – 5, 1, 3, 4RACE 2 – 1, 9, 8, 7RACE 3 – 2, 4, 5, 3RACE 4 – 2, 1, 3, 5RACE 5 – 4, 1, 2, 3RACE 6 – 1, 2, 4, 6RACE 7 – 1, 6, 7, 8RACE 8 – 2, 1, 3, 5RACE 9 – 3, 4, 1, 2
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