Cup Blonde sitting Pretty

TRAINER Kym Healy loves his Pretty Blonde, even though his wife Cassie has brown hair.

Kym Healy, trainer of Pretty Blonde.

TRAINER Kym Healy loves his Pretty Blonde, even though his wife Cassie has brown hair.

But this Pretty Blonde has four legs and has won four races on the trot, including the Alice Springs Cup two months ago. Tomorrow, she contests the Chief Minister’s Cup.

The five-year-old mare’s last four wins were all Cups, at Pioneer Park and Port Lincoln. She has an impressive record of eight wins from 33 starts.

Jockey Justin Potter has ridden her in each of her eight wins and will be in Darwin tomorrow aiming to make it nine.

“I have had her all her starts, since she was two,” Healy said. “The win in Alice was the best I have had in my career.

Pretty Blonde arrived in Darwin a week ago from Adelaide where she returned after her Alice Springs Cup triumph.

“She has settled in well and has handled the track well when she has galloped,” Healy said.

Healy admits Pretty Blonde’s task will not be easy with leading Darwin trainer Gary Clarke having two ­runners, Lightinthenite (Paul Shiers) and the promising Warrego Melody (Brendon Davis) among the favourites in a strong field.

The Neil Dyer-trained Cantonese (Jarrod Todd), Kerry Petrick’s I Am Magic (Paul Denton) and Chris Pollard’s Live in Doubt (Felicia Bergstrand) are also well in the mix.

“It’s no easy race,” Healy said. “The distance (1600m) was my query with the Chief Minister’s Cup (in Alice) because she had never won below 1950m but she won that pretty well.”

HOOFNOTE: Healy returns to Adelaide on Sunday but then heads back to Darwin for the remainder of the Carnival with his wife Cassie and children Ruby and Georgia.