Cairns Cup: Namazu wins prized FNQ spectacle

Namazu had all the weight of Team Vale behind him, and he delivered in spades on Saturday in front of a thrilled Cairns crowd.

Sometimes, it only takes one horse to bag a winner.

Rockhampton trainer Ricky Vale found that out with great elation as his horse Namazu stormed home to win the Cairns Cup on Saturday.

“I was going to bring up a couple more horses this year, but then everything went to crap,” Vale said after the race.

“A lot of my horses went to the paddock that were meant to be going to the carnival.

“We only brought one up when we were originally going to bring three or four up.”

Kimberly Cockeran, Ricky Vale, Namazou, Jockey Les Tilley and Tom Headley after taking out the Cairns Cup. Photo by Emily Barker

Namazu held the outside favourably during the initial stages of the 2100m race as Jared Wehlow’s (Rockhampton) Louis January and Trevor Rowe’s (Cairns) Southern Swing leapt out to the lead.

He then eased up even more on the second turn, but leading into the final stretch he found his speed.

Hoop Les Tilley belted out a cheer of victory as he rode Namazu across the line, followed by Stephen Potiris’ (Innisfail) Play Me Now and Olivia Cairns’ (Mackay) Arctic Wolf.

The $150,000 purse Cairns Cup had Namazu’s owners netting a cool $87,000, which was another drawcard for Vale to bring the winner to the Far North.

“I was a bit sceptical because I didn’t know how he’d handle the track,” Vale said.

“(But) the money was too good not to come up, we looked at a couple of Brisbane races, the Toowoomba race was worth 72,000, and we raced for 87,000 up here.”

Earlier in the day, Cairns got a win when her four-year-old gelding Fire King set the track ablaze with his Daintree Guineas run.

Jockey Les Tilley aboard Namazou after taking out the Cairns Cup. Photo by Emily Barker

Fire King was leading the pack from the outset, and managed to find a second wind on the straight to deter any would-be challengers.

As far as trainer Cairns was concerned, there was no doubt in her mind Fire King would reign supreme.

“His jockey (Ryan Wiggins) made a long run on him, he rode him like he was the best horse in the race,” the Mackay-based trainer said.

“He took off early and made them chase him – they weren’t good enough to catch him.”

Cairns’ horses have been in solid form this season, with the Fire King her fourth winner this month.

“He was terrific out there, he’s a lovely little horse but as tough as they come,” she said.

“I can’t complain, we’ve gone pretty well so far … we’ve had great races and a good season.”

FNQ trainers weren’t strangers to the silverware on Saturday either.

Cannon Park-based Stephen Massingham was bullish in his opinion of More The Merrier, and he had good reason to be with the four-year-old speedster storming home in the 950m class 4 handicap.

Massingham had another winner that day with Indictment breaking through for a nailbiting win in the 1250m benchmark 55 handicap.

Tolga-based Roy Chillemi got himself a pair of victors in Go Getaboy and Mystery ‘N’ Magic, who took home the 1250m three-year-old handicap and 1500m benchmark 58 handicap respectively.

Originally published as Cairns Cup: Namazu wins prized FNQ spectacle