DARWIN CUP AND BRUNETTE RACES 2015
Darwin Cup 2015
The hot favourite for the Darwin Cup Lightinthenite has won the Northern Territory's premier horse race by eight lengths.
The horse, owned by a syndicate including the Chief Minister Adam Giles and a number of Darwin developers and publicans, was never troubled over the 2,000-metre race.
Second was Royal Request followed by last year's winner Pretty Blonde.
Lightinthenite took the lead on the final bend and had bounded clear with 250 metres to go.
Sydney jockey Hugh Bowman said the win was a tribute to trainer Gary Clarke.
He said it was very special also today to win the inaugural Simone Montgomery medal in race six.
The horses connections, including Darwin developer John "Foxy" Robinson and Chief Minister Adam Giles said it was a great feeling to win for their syndicate of Darwin friends.
Brunette Races 2015
The races are held at the A.B.C. Amateur Race Club race track, located on Brunette Downs Station, which is situated on the Barkly Tablelands, Northern Territory, Australia.
Now heading for their 114th year, the races are Australia's best kept outback secret! Four and a half days of nonstop outback fun and entertainment, the Brunette Races is an event not to be missed.
Located 135kms north of the Barkly Homestead, the Races are the biggest event on the Barkly Tablelands Social Calendar and attract visitors from all around Australia.
Linda Blackwood, secretary of the ABC (Alexandria, Brunette Downs and Creswell Downs) Amateur Race Club, who run the Brunette Downs Races, said the low numbers of local horses, known as "district bred" horses has been an issue for a few years.
"This has happened for a number of reasons, there weren't so many people around who had that passion for racing their own horses," Ms Blackwood said.
"Also where a lot of stations had previously been breeding their own horses for their own use, that has been in decline as well.
"So we've been taking steps to breed up more race horses for a number of years now, but horses can be a bit fickle and through injury and other incidents we have got to bit of a crisis point."
To enter the district-bred category, horses must have been sired and foaled in the Northern Territory or a certain section of western Queensland.
