Darwin trainer Gary Clarke: The Captain looking very good ahead of bet365 Palmerston Sprint

The field for the $135,000 bet365 Palmerston Sprint (1200m) at Fannie Bay today has been warned – the ‘grand final’ window for The Captain has been left well ajar.

Champion Darwin trainer Gary Clarke with The Captain. Picture: Glenn Campbell

THE field for the $135,000 bet365 Palmerston Sprint (1200m) at Fannie Bay on Saturday has been warned – the ‘grand final’ window for The Captain has been left well ajar.

TAB on Friday night had the reigning two-time Darwin Horse of the Year as the $3.70 favourite.

Good money to get on the eight-year-old marvel given his form.

And also given the impression he continues to make on champion Top End trainer Gary Clarke.

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“He’s looking as good as he ever has, and I do think he gets a good chance (to win the Sprint) this year,” Clarke said.

There is no question The Captain is ready to win his first Palmerston Sprint crown.

He produced a magnificent run in the $34,000 Silks Darwin Weight-For-Age (1200m) on July 17, beating fierce sprinting rival, Phil Cole’s Smuggling, by almost three lengths.

“I’d like to have a stable full of horses like him. He just loves to race and he loves to win,” said Clarke after that victory, with star Darwin jockey Jarrod Todd aboard.

Incredibly, that victory was his 14th win from 27 starts in Darwin for the Clarke stable.

Conditions will look to suit The Captain again on Saturday.

“He’ll only carry 62kg, and he’s always shown he carries weight well,” Clarke said.

If The Captain can do what he loves and what he has done so often – which is get himself into the clear at the front early on – it will be extremely hard to run him down.

“Jarrod and The Captain make a good combination,” Clarke said after his WFA victory.

“Not many can do that (what the horse has achieved in Darwin with the Clarke stable).

“He’s finished second and third in the Sprint before, but never won it.

“He’s been near-perfect in Darwin. If they don’t show up for the Palmerston Sprint, he’s more than capable of winning.”

Thoroughbred Racing NT CEO Andrew O’Toole agrees The Captain will be tough to run down in the Territory’s biggest sprint race.

Gary Clarke’s The Captain, with Jarrod Todd aboard, is the favourite for the Palmerston Sprint. Picture: Caroline Camilleri

“The Captain will take plenty of beating,” he wrote in his On The Punt column.

“Grand campaigner who deserves a major win and his last-start effort was first class.

“Just pipped in this race last year, and trainer (Clarke is) looking for a fourth-straight win in this time-honoured event.”

O’Toole also believes Smuggling is capable of challenging The Captain over the short distance.

“Smuggling was close-up in this race last year without much luck, and the Pioneer Sprint winner is on track for another bold showing,” he said.

Clarke said The Captain’s healthy rivalry with Smuggling provides him with plenty of motivation.

“It’s good that two of the fastest sprinters in the Territory are local horses,” he said.

The Clarke stable is not worried about Smuggling’s brilliant 1 ½-length victory in the $100,000 Peter Kittle Motor Company Pioneer Sprint (1200m) at Alice Springs on May 2, The Captain finishing well back in second-last spot.

“He doesn’t seem to like the dirt in Alice – the surface is probably a bit more shifty than it is here in Darwin, and he loves running in Darwin,” Clarke said.