Dyer lining up double

VICTORIAN-based trainer Neil Dyer’s recent Darwin carnival campaign was a successful endeavour.

Trainer Neil Dyer with his two time Darwin Cup winner Hawks Bay

VICTORIAN-based trainer Neil Dyer’s recent Darwin carnival campaign was a successful endeavour.

The Kyneton-based trainer is certainly no stranger to Northern Territory success and he has the figures behind him to back it up.

Darwin Cup stalwart Hawks Bay has been the flag-bearer for Dyer’s Top End trips in recent years but the tide has turned with his recent retirement, and before he left Victoria, Dyer would have held reservations with regard to this season’s Darwin campaign without his star galloper.

It mattered little in the end with Dyer’s team racing with great consistency, he won races with four different gallopers, Bel Ez, Bel Sir and Pot Black were all victorious, while the highly gifted Royal Request proved to be the jewel in Dyer’s golden crown when he won the NT Derby.

Tomorrow at Pioneer Park, Dyer will be saddling up two big chances as he heads back home.

Six-year-old gelding Bel Gold was ultra consistent in Darwin without winning.

He hasn’t raced since a very good third behind Port Hercule at Fannie Bay on July 19 over 1600m.

He’s back in distance to 1200m tomorrow when he tackles the Truckie’s Day 22nd August Handicap but he will still take a power of beating.

Bel Gold has won at the trip in the past and will have been freshened since his last run.

Natural Hero is first up and he should be in the finish, while the Garry Bignell-trained Kimberley Downs, also first up, has good enough form to shake the life out of ­tomorrow’s race.

He’s trained at Nyngan in north-western NSW, and they have a happy knack of being successful here.

Dyer will also start maiden mare Little Rock Siren in the last race, The Rock Bar Maiden Hcp (1000m) and she will be right in the finish.

She has never run a placing in her six runs to date but that will change tomorrow.

Little Rock Siren’s runs in Darwin were better than they looked on paper and tomorrow’s race is weak. She will be handled by a battered and bruised Kayla Cross.

The talented apprentice took a nasty tumble in Darwin on Cup Day when she was hurtled from Hand In Glove.

And despite a little soreness and stiffness she will be there tomorrow.

The Coleman’s Printing Hcp (1200m) is a tricky affair but Barely A Beat is working up to a win.

The Nigel Moody-trained mare has had two runs here and both were solid performances. Adelaide hoop Wayne Kerford has retained the ride on Barely A Beat.

And she should provide punters with a good run for their money.

There is speed in the race, and Barely A Beat should get a nice run throughout the event.

King Crusader can return to the winner’s list tomorrow when he takes on the First ­National Framptons Handicap (1100m).

He has won four races here last season and looked very good doing it.

He failed here before Christmas and was spelled ­before embarking on a Victorian campaign where he came up short at Wangaratta and Bairnsdale.

King Crusader is resuming again tomorrow and if fit, he will run a super race for trainer Mark Nyhan and jockey Jan Cameron. Kel Of A Shot, So Real and Mount Nancy look his toughest obstacles.