Autocratic proves his class taking out the $50,000 TAB Darwin Guineas (1300m) for the stable of champion trainer Gary Clarke

CHAMPION Darwin trainer Gary Clarke’s long-standing love affair with the Darwin Guineas - dating back to his first win as a jockey in 1999 - continued yesterday, with the talented Autocratic making it win number four across 21 years

Autocratic, ridden by Jarrod Todd and trained by Gary Clarke, wins the $50,000 TAB Darwin Guineas at Fannie Bay on Saturday. Picture: Glenn Campbell

CHAMPION Darwin trainer Gary Clarke’s long-standing love affair with the Darwin Guineas — dating back to his first win as a jockey in 1999 — continued on Saturday, with the talented Autocratic making it win number four across 21 years.

The three-year-old - with jockey Jarrod Todd aboard — set the pace early and showed his class, never letting go of the lead and wearing down fellow early leader in Angela Forster’s Mighty Beau, who finished fourth.

“That’s what we brought him up to do and I’m glad to see things go as we wanted,” Clarke told the Sunday Territorian.

“Things worked out well for him as he had enough speed to take to the front and from there Jarrod did the job of controlling the pace.

“That’s two in a row for him but he’s the type of talent where it won’t matter what track he’s on and we just have to make sure we’re keeping him prepared.”

Alice Guineas winner Shift The Risk looking for second NT Guineas win

The victory in the $50,000 feature race puts Autocratic alongside Finke and Gravitational as Clarke-trained horses to win the Guineas, and he will now be gearing up to take on the NT Derby.

From the stable of top trainers Peter and Paul Snowden, Autocratic had an early career in which he won against eventual Group 1 winners.

But it is his stablemate and third placegetter the in-form Escondido, ridden by Kim Gladwin, who Clarke believes will be the danger horse come the Derby.

Escondido looked likely for a second place after working through the pack, but a rush from nowhere from Kelvin Hickmott’s Call Me Legend pipped him to third on the line.

“It’s always good to have some talented horses,’’ Clarke said.

“Escondido had a super run and to me he indicated that he would be the hardest horse to beat come the Derby.”

The Guineas win capped off a big opening to the Darwin Cup Carnival for the Clarke stable, with the champion horseman also overseeing wins by Taciturn (Todd), Another Bit (Gladwin) and Count Of Essex (Paul Shiers).

The $20,000 Top Country Handicap (1100m) - won by Another Bit - was a particularly strong showing from the stable with Clarke’s Silver Melody and Divine Red completing the trifecta for him.

LIMITED TIME: New NT News subscription offer: $1 a week for the first 12 weeks

Other winners on Saturday were: Happy Bidi (trainer Sherrie Lawlor, jockey Terry Treichel), Spielberg ( Forster, Todd), Clever Tommy (Norm Bracken, Treichel), Tornado Of Souls (Peter Stennett, Raymond Vigar) and Mr Boomjangles (Garry Lefoe, Shiers).