Darwin Cup winner Saturday Sorcerer facing disqualification

Darwin Cup winner ­Saturday Sorcerer is facing disqualification after returning an irregular preliminary positive swab.

Action from the Carlton Mid Darwin Cup Day - 5:40pm. Winning horse Saturday Sorcerer ridden by winning jockey Paul Denton.

Darwin Cup winner ­Saturday Sorcerer is facing disqualification.

The Stuart Gower-trained galloper has returned an irregular preliminary positive swab, Thoroughbred Racing NT chief steward David Hensler confirmed yesterday.

The second reserve blood sample is with an Adelaide laboratory for further analysis.

If the second sample is positive, the five-year-old gelding faces disqualification from the $200,000 race.

Under the rules of racing, prizemoney is not paid out to connections until swabs have been successfully completed to the satisfaction of stewards.

SATURDAY SORCERER TAKES OUT DARWIN CUP

Mr Hensler said it could take up to two more weeks to complete the tests on the second sample.

“The second sample was taken to Adelaide by Alice Springs steward David Westover last Monday,” Mr Hensler told the NT News. “He then went to the stables of trainer Stuart Gower and told him of the irregular first sample.”

Questions started to be asked after Saturday Sorcerer was scratched from last Wednesday’s Balaklava Cup, his first planned outing since winning the Cup.

When contacted late last week, Mr Gower said the five-year-old gelding was “just not right”, despite seemingly coping well with the return trip from the Top End.

Darwin Turf Club chairman Brett Dixon also yesterday confirmed the irregular swab.

“It is an irregular swab,” Mr Dixon told the NT News.

“We are now waiting on the results of the second swab.

“But I don’t want to jump to conclusions until then. It could be anything.”

The saga took a new twist yesterday when respected Melbourne racing journalist Adrian Dunn tweeted: “Thoroughbred Racing NT chief steward David Hensler said there’s swab irregularity from Darwin Cup winner. Second sample now being tested.”

Any disqualification will be a cruel blow for local jockey Paul Denton, who won the 1999 Darwin Cup aboard On The Beam, and steered Saturday Sorcerer to victory in the Metric Mile in spectacular fashion on July 16.

In last month’s Cup, Saturday Sorcerer pipped Pretty Blonde, trained by Mr Gower’s good mate Kym Healy. In a blanket finish, Lightinthenite was a short head away in third.

Saturday Sorcerer was 0.51 of a second behind Club Liquid’s track record of 2:01.22 for the 2000m, set in the 2008 Darwin Cup.